Hosted by Visit Sarasota County, this much-anticipated culinary celebration began in 2005 as a way to bring awareness and to drive business for restaurants during the off-season.
Similar programs can be found in destinations across the country. Culinary tourism, defined as visitors coming to a location to dine out or partake of food-and-drink activities, is big business for destinations.
According to Mandala Research’s 2013 American Culinary Traveler Report, the percentage of U.S. leisure travelers who travel to learn about and enjoy unique dining experiences grew from 40 percent to 51 percent from 2006 to 2013.
A big part of visitor spending is dining in restaurants. In Sarasota County in fiscal year 2015, 77 percent of visitors enjoyed dining out, helping to contribute to a 16.3 percent increase in visitor spending.
Competition among destinations continues to be fierce as destinations recognize the power of culinary tourism, so Visit Sarasota County's efforts to highlight our culinary assets go beyond Savor Sarasota Restaurant Week.
Sarasota County’s chefs and restaurants are consistently recognized for their quality and talent, and Visit Sarasota County leverages this in our marketing. Our agency highlights our restaurants, chefs and culinary offerings in articles, blogs, social-media posts and in our traditional and digital advertising throughout the year.
Sarasota County targets culinary journalists, bloggers and social influencers either by sending them recipes and images, inviting them to come to Sarasota to taste the flavors for themselves, shipping items such as Amish pies to them or taking chefs on the road to key target markets.
Visit Sarasota County must always stay aware of trends in culinary tourism and find relevant ways to work with the industry here to promote culinary tourism.
Culinary tourism trends
According to the World Food Travel Association, current trends in culinary tourism include:
■ Cooking classes and multi-course meals, with bite-sized portions that allow guests to taste many dishes versus one large dish.
■ Local farmers markets and a focus on eating and buying locally sourced produce and other food. This is why Visit Sarasota County created an agritourism guide that maps out Sarasota’s numerous farmers markets and farms.
■ Food-and-wine festivals. Visit Sarasota County brought media representatives to this year’s Forks & Corks Food and Wine Festival and provided marketing support and other help to the inaugural Englewood Restaurant Week in 2015.
■ Travelers want gourmet food stands and options everywhere, from traditional grocery stores to airports.
■ Culinary businesses are linking themselves with the wellness trend in travel and tourism. Healthy food is paired with traditional favorites to give consumers the opportunity to enjoy the local flavors of a destination while not foregoing healthy options. Food tours also can also be paired with cycling tours.
■ Booking a seat or table is getting more streamlined, and OpenTable.com and other apps are making booking a table in a destination that visitors are unfamiliar with a social experience.
I hope you will join me and visitors in enjoying some of the best food in Florida during Savor Sarasota and throughout the year.
I also welcome innovative ideas for making our area continue to stand out among the top destinations for culinary tourism. For more information on Savor Sarasota Restaurant Week, held June 1 through June 14.
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