With an initial offer of more than 200 products in 25 European destinations, Foodie&Tours launches the first global platform of online sales directed towards foodie tourists. Under strict selection criteria, it has also developed a “Concierge Foodie” application for four or five-star hotels.
In only a couple months, the Spanish start-up Foodie&Tours has roused the interest of the international tourism sector, as one of the innovative initiatives in the new travel category of gastronomic tourism. Through its platform foodieandtours.com, Foodie&Tours commercializes globally and in real time, the best wine and food activities, of experienced professional tour operators. With a stringently selected experience list, it also has a “Concierge Foodie” technology that facilitates the inscription to gastronomic activities through the reception of hotels.
According to research from the World Food Travel Association, the gastronomic aspects of destinations are touristic resources with the highest growth potential. It is an emerging global industry that generates around 150 billion dollars annually, showing a 10% annual growth. It motivates a significant number of travelers to enjoy activities related to gastronomy or wine, spending an average of 320 euros per person per trip. These individuals are known as “foodies”. They are typically between 30 to 60 years old, with medium-high spending power, commonly coming from large cities of the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, or Canada. They are acutely interested in getting to know the culture and the history of the world through its flavors.
Completely financed by Spanish capital, Foodie&Tours was founded by Hugo Palomar, Juan Peist, and Enric Elvira, three young entrepreneurs with wide experiences in tourism innovation and online technology, in addition to being passionate foodies. Prior to Foodie&Tours, CEO Hugo Palomar co-founded the successful Spanish start-up, ByHours.com. He was also one of the critics in the Spanish gastronomic travel guide Guia Repsol 2007. He explains, “Our ideal is to promote the culture and understanding of a destination through its gastronomy, because it is the best way to get to know its land, history, values, people, and traditions. In this way, Foodie&Tours wants to be the vehicle to bring clients to all the gastronomic destinations, helping the emerging operators to generate offerings and the mature operators to expand their current experiences.”
Easy and secure purchase with one sole intermediary
Foodie&Tours is the first global marketplace specialized in gastronomy and wine and has already attracted the attention of the principal players of international tourism. Its wide catalogue proposes more than 200 high-quality experiences in 25 European destinations, in the categories of “Wine Tasting”, “Cooking Class”, “Food Walks”, “Culinary Tours”, and “Eat With Locals”. Its objective is to facilitate an easy purchase process centralized by one sole intermediary, not only for individual clients but also for corporations or groups. Its strategy is to provide a global real-time inventory that consists of offerings from a series of collaborations, meticulously selected throughout the world. In this way the foodie traveler saves time by not having to perform tedious searches, using the platform to find and book within minutes the best offerings of each destination.
Foodie&Tours staff.
Foodie&Tours selects its partners and providers with strict quality standards and incorporate their products to their extensive marketplace, earning commission for each realized reservation. In exchange, they offer important support systems, as their online sales channel and their innovative “Concierge Foodie” technology integration for four or five-star hotels, which facilitates the recommendation and sale of foodie activities via hotels’ personnel. In such a way, Foodie&Tours converts in the best partner for all the firms related to tourism and gastronomy, helping them access their intended clients through a single sale channel. In the words of CEO Hugo Palomar, “We would like to strengthen the destinations that we are already operating in, amplify our catalogue, and definitively convert into the most important online travel agency in gastronomic tourism. We would like to generate more and better offerings in each destination through its gastronomy, offering the best support system”.
Taste the World with Foodie&Tours
Discover the magnificent wines of Provence elaborated in on the left bank of the Rhone River; get to know the city of Istanbul through its local delights and its spice market; explore the beer tradition of the cosmopolitan Milan, or learn to cook paella in Valencia, salmorejo in Sevilla or the best specialty of a Michelin-star chef in his own kitchen. These are just some of the extraordinary experiences that can be acquired with a simple click on the platform of Foodie&Tours, which helps foodies discover the character of a region through its gastronomy, while always granting personalized attention and the highest level of quality.
In such a way Foodie&Tours seeks to help people get to know the world through its flavors. A vision of tourism that is not only romantic, but also anthropologic, on which Palomar and his team bet upon, and for which motivates more and more travelers. “Gastronomy is a treasure that differentiates every destination, which explains its history, geography, and culture. A traditional plate or a specific technique of production help us understand a civilization, where we came from, and how our ancestors were”, says Hugo, “the tourist, on his part, is becoming more and more active and searches for distinct forms to discover and learn – and gastronomy has become the best way to do so”.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
