Foodtrekking Awards

Our research shows that 53% of travelers choose a destination based on the culinary culture that they expect to experience. Yet, travelers do not often know what to expect. And destinations and businesses do not always do a great job showcasing the different components of culinary culture to visitors. This category is open to any business, organization, tourism office or government that has a program that helps to preserve its own culinary culture(s) while simultaneously promoting it to visitors.

Every aspect of business nowadays must include a look at sustainability, and not just the environmental aspects, but also the sociocultural and economic ones. This category is open to any business, organization, tourism office or government with a sustainability solution that solves some issue relating to culinary tourism. For example, the program could deal with recycling, reuse of food waste, living wages, DEI, overtourism, etc.

Often when we talk about food tourism or even culinary or gastronomy tourism, beverages are overlooked. Instead, we might refer to wine tourism or beer tourism separately. Really, people eat and drink at the same time, and there is a lot of cross-over among food, wine, beer and other beverages. This category is open to any business, organization, tourism office or government that elevates the visibility of and emphasizes local beverage production as a crucial part of the culinary tourism experience.

The seeds of cuisine are in agriculture, and without quality agriculture, we would not have good food. That said, not all food-loving travelers are interested in visiting farms or agriculture. This category is open to any business, organization, tourism office or government that elevates the visibility of and emphasizes agricultural production as a crucial part of the culinary tourism experience.

Both health and wellness can play important parts in culinary tourism experience. For health, we begin with special diets and food allergies, but we can also look at lower fat or animal welfare-friendly versions of traditional classics. As for wellness, spirituality, balance and mindfulness can play a role in culinary tourism. This category is open to any business, organization, tourism office or government that elevates the visibility of and emphasizes wellness and/or health as a crucial part of the culinary tourism experience.

Technology is an innovator, and most of us would agree that change in our businesses is guaranteed. Therefore, we must embrace technology in order to evolve. This category is open to any business, organization, tourism office or government that uses technology in an interesting way to teach or support culinary travelers. Be sure to show how technology benefits food- and beverage-loving travelers.