Last week, the World Food Travel Association announced the winners of its 2019 FoodTrekking Awards for Excellence and Innovation in culinary travel. This year’s winners are:

• Best Culinary Destination - Destination Bristol (Bristol, UK)
• Best Food or Beverage Tour Experience - Maine Food for Thought (Portland, Maine, USA)
• Most Innovative Use of Local Ingredients in a Foodservice Menu - NUSA Indonesian Gastronomy (Jakarta, Indonesia)
• Most Innovative Food or Beverage Marketing Campaign for a Destination - Discover Boyne Valley Flavours (Boyne Valley, Ireland)
• Best Local Storytelling in a Food or Beverage Experience - The Original Taste Of Hoi An (Hoi An, Vietnam)
• Best Creative Use of Space for a Food Lover Attraction - Javara Culture (Jakarta, Indonesia)
• Best Food or Beverage Lodging Experience - Sudamala Suites & Villas Senggigi (Lombok, Indonesia)

The culinary travel trade industry was born in 2001. Since then, the industry has experienced a tremendous growth in both the quantity and quality of products and experiences for food and beverage lovers. Yet what good are successful accomplishments without industry recognition and eventually, consumer promotion? In 2015, the World Food Travel Association recognized the need for an Awards program for the gastronomy tourism industry. Now in their fifth year, the FoodTrekking Awards benchmark and celebrate excellence and innovation in products and experiences offered to food and beverage lovers who travel.

The FoodTrekking Awards are held annually. Applications open on March 1 every year, and winners are always announced in early November during the FoodTreX London | Food Travel Innovation Summit, where the Awards Ceremony closes the day. The Awards recognize excellence and innovation in seven categories that are important to food- and beverage-loving travelers. A total of 31 semi-finalists from 4 continents were announced in September.