Culinary tourism has quietly become one of the most powerful forces shaping how travelers choose where to go—and how much they spend once they get there. For a growing share of guests, the meal is the destination. That's the current the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) is riding with the return of its video series "Global Kitchen."
Building on the success of its inaugural season, USTOA is back with a new lineup of episodes that trade tourist-trap dining for genuine, place-rooted flavor. This season takes viewers into three destinations that rarely share the same sentence: Québec City, Canada; Chongqing, China; and Cali, Colombia.
What the New Season of "Global Kitchen" Explores
The premise is refreshingly simple: explore culinary tourism through authentic local cuisine, letting each city's food tell the story of its culture, history, and people. Rather than a highlight reel of famous restaurants, the series leans into the dishes and traditions that locals actually live by.
The three featured destinations offer a deliberately diverse culinary map:
- Québec City, Canada — French-Canadian heritage and cold-climate comfort cooking within reach of the U.S. market.
- Chongqing, China — the fiery, mouth-numbing heartland of Sichuan-style flavor and hotpot culture.
- Cali, Colombia — Afro-Colombian and Pacific-coast influences driving one of South America's most underrated food scenes.
Each destination extends the season's central idea: that the most memorable travel moments increasingly happen at the table.
Why It Matters
For food, beverage, and hospitality professionals, "Global Kitchen" is more than travel content—it's a read on where guest appetites are heading. When a national tour operator association builds an entire series around authentic local cuisine, it's signaling that food-forward experiences are now a primary trip driver, not an add-on.
Here's how operators and buyers can put that insight to work:
- Menu innovation: Destinations like Chongqing and Cali point to flavor profiles—numbing Sichuan spice, Afro-Colombian coastal cooking—that are ripe for the U.S. market. Early movers on emerging global cuisines capture the culinary-curious diner before the trend goes mainstream.
- Hospitality and travel operators: The "food as destination" mindset rewards properties and tour packages that build immersive, local-first dining into the itinerary rather than treating meals as filler.
- Storytelling sells: The series proves that provenance and authenticity move people. Menus, marketing, and staff training that tell the real story behind a dish create the same pull for your guests.
The takeaway is clear: the diners walking into your restaurant or resort are increasingly shaped by the flavors they've discovered abroad—or wish they had. Programs like "Global Kitchen" are a low-cost way to spot the next big cuisine before it hits your competitors' menus.
The Bigger Picture for Culinary Tourism
Culinary tourism sits at the intersection of two industries that increasingly depend on each other: hospitality and foodservice. Travelers plan trips around markets, street food, and regional specialties, and they bring those expectations home. That feedback loop is exactly what makes a series like this worth watching for anyone in the food and beverage industry.
Curious how these currents show up closer to home? See how operators are rethinking beverage programs in The New Economics of Craft, and dig into more emerging trends in our latest food and beverage trends podcast highlights.
Which global cuisine do you think will define menus next—Québécois comfort food, Chongqing heat, or Cali's Pacific-coast flavors? Weigh in below and tell us how culinary tourism is shaping what you serve.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” for founding American Wholesale Floral. Politz is also the founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
