Google: online search for wine tasting and food tasting in Italy grows by double digits in 2023

World travelers’ interest in food and wine tourism in Italy is also confirmed by Google: growth in online searches in the first five months of 2023 for wine tourism experiences and wine tasting is +13% compared to 2019, while that for food tasting even marks +17% (source: Google Trends). And, according to data from The Fork, demand for restaurants is also growing, with an increase in bookings between January and May of +18% compared to 2022. It is also interesting to find out that Italy, after France, is the country with the most Michelin restaurants on the online booking platform, 613, 30% of the restaurants in the celebrated “Red” Guide. On the wine tourism front and from the demand side to the supply side, the “National Wine Tourism Observatory” 2023 by Nomisma-Wine Monitor and Wine Cities highlights a great growth in the search for winery tourism reception staff, from 42% in 2022 to 53% in 2023, and whose training is considered “very strategic” to ensure the economic development of wineries and the territory (72%), attract new tourist flows (71%) and catch new trends (67%), with skills in communication, digital and social media being the most in demand (72%). These are the anticipations of “Food&Wine Tourism Forum” No. 6, the most important event in Italy dedicated to innovation in food and wine tourism, which returns, tomorrow, to the Castle of Grinzane Cavour, in the Langhe, Roero and Monferrato Unesco World Heritage Site, promoted by Ente Turismo Langhe Monferrato Roero, led by Bruno Bertero, with the scientific direction of Roberta Milano. Comparing on the “Prospect” thread, 50 experts, researchers, academics, institutional representatives, journalists and entrepreneurs in the sector, from Magda Antonioli, vice-president Etc European Travel Commission, to Alessandra Priante, director Europe Unwto, from Fabio Galetto, Travel Director Google Italia, Valentina Quattro, Industry Relations Director Italia-TheFork, from Roberta Gabrielli, Senior Project Manager National Wine Tourism Observatory - Nomisma-Wine Monitor, to Barbara Nappini, president Slow Food Italia, to Maria Elena Rossi, director Marketing and Promotion Enit. And, with panels, dedicated to the Unesco wine territories (Langhe-Roero and Monferrato Vineyard Landscapes, Cinque Terre and Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene) and the network of Unesco “Creative Cities of Gastronomy” (Bergamo, Rouen, Burgos and Alba), and with Spain, among the wine tourism destinations that have grown the most in recent decades, the guest country of honor.