The need for monitoring food-related reputation is essential to APAC destinations, which must maintain a competitive advantage and grow their destination image.

• While the overall food related sentiment has been very positive for the past year, a few social, political, and societal issues have challenged the region’s food image, including food safety and sustainability.
• Japan leads in the Asia Pacific region in terms of the best food e-reputation performance based on online platform reviews in the past 12 months. The report also includes the food e-reputation performance for other destinations in Asia Pacific.

In 2018, about 200 million international ‘foodies’ travelled into Asia Pacific, regularly engaging in gastronomic activities such as food tours, gastronomic restaurants, local food market tours and more, comprising up to 28% of the total international visitors into Asia Pacific.

And because foodies are 33% more active than average in sharing their trip experiences on social media, this market segment is highly important to destinations seeking to grow their brand image and attract potential visitors.

According to recent social conversations (Period: September 2018 – September 2019) that illustrate Asian food-related sentiment and experiential drivers, the Asian food reputation is being renewed by active sentiment drivers, for example the preference for a more colourful cuisine offering experiences that are both picturesque and tasty. Visitors are increasingly interested in how local cuisine interacts with the destination itself, and seek hybrid experiences that blend food with architecture, lifestyle, fashion, and design.

Titled ‘Mapping Drivers of Food E-reputation in Asia’, PATA’s latest Issues and Trends offers a valuable snapshot into the current status of consumer sentiments around the food scene in Asia Pacific – a powerful driver of travel into the region – including recommendations on how to seize the growing food segment opportunity.

The report is authored by Olivier Henry-Biabaud, founder of TCI Research, a business intelligence agency that sets global standards for measuring the pulse of sustainable and competitive destinations, with a focus on visitor satisfaction, resident sentiment and destination brand reputation. Its research intelligence solution TRAVELSAT© received the UNWTO Award for Innovation in 2011.

Issues and Trends is complimentary to all PATA Members.

DOWNLOAD NOW