Food tourism and social media with Nivard Nelson

Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook? Are these the new drivers of food tourism? Is public interest in food tourism fuelling, or being fuelled by social media? Has our pursuit of likes and followers created a boom in food tourism?

Going out to eat now involves ‘checking in’ so others can see where we dine, making sure we get that photo of the dish at the right angle so it becomes online drool-worthy.

I say it is a combination of the two. People are searching for the next great thing. We have this FOMO (fear of missing out), driving us to search out the next and greatest experience. For many diners this now encompasses not just the food, but the decor, the furniture, the cutlery, glass wear and plates. I’m guilty of it. I look at glasses, making sure they are attractive. I know this is wrong and I should be judging on what’s in the glass but I can’t help it. That’s the society we live in.

All those touches and flourishes help to create an experience that brings out excitement and joy. And it’s that excitement and joy which fuels our desire to share our experiences. With the rise of social media, our sharing happens almost instantaneously and we allow people to live vicariously through our posts. Conversely, we live through others posts. This has encouraged restaurants and cafes to become more aware of their posts and how it plays a role in their advertising of their establishments. A fine example of this is two restaurants on opposite sides of Toowoomba. Bluebird Kitchen in Warwick and Emeraude in Hampton. Both are destination visits for people unless you live locally and are very conscious of their profile on social media. They encourage their guests to post images of the food as this delivers more people keen to try something new and interesting.

So as diners we need to be sharing our experiences with our followers as this will drive demand and growth and encourage more tourism thereby giving us even greater experiences.