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With some of the most Michelin-starred restaurants on the planet, Tokyo (31%) has topped a list of the hottest spots on earth for travellers in APAC, according to the Hotels.com® Tasty Travels* report, with Japan also taking the crown for the tastiest country. Paying tribute to these delicious destinations, Hotels.com has collaborated with food artist Carl Warner to bring foodies’ favourite hangouts to life, using the city’s famous food ingredients – Parisian buildings made of cheese, the Pantheon made of pasta and Mount Fuji made of seaweed, every city looks good enough to eat.

Almost 90 percent of millennials admitted a destination’s cuisine is the biggest deciding factor when picking where to holiday, with beautiful beaches (34%) and the shopping scene (23%) being less appetizing. 

It’s food over friends these days or even selfies, as 80% admit they prefer to snap their food than their friends’ faces (31%) or selfies (30%) for Instagram #sorrynotsorry. The research found a gut-busting rise in food photography on social media, as on a week’s holiday, Millennial travellers snap on average 152 photos, of which most of them are of food or F&B establishments.  

The Hotels.com survey also revealed that pizza and pasta (30%) is the food Millennials are most likely to post on social media, followed by steak and meat (23%) or indulgent desserts like donuts or freakshakes (19%). Young travellers don’t play it safe with their food choices either, as 22 percent have taken food challenges including eating a 1kg burrito, whilst eel sushi (25%), chicken feet (22%) and deep-fried Mars bars (23%) are also favourites during travel. 

To celebrate the mouth-watering combination of food and travel, renowned food artist Carl Warner has created a unique collection of artworks bringing the top foodie destinations to life. Each city scene, captured in HD photography, is deliciously constructed with famous foods from each location. Parisian markets and the Eiffel Tower are built with decadent chocolate and blue cheese; the Pantheon and a cobbled back street in Rome are brought to life with pasta, parma ham and Parmesan cheese; while a serene zen garden and tea ceremony are imagined with maki rolls, ginger and shiitake mushrooms overlooking Mount Fuji, in Warner’s tribute to Tokyo. Watch them being built HERE. 

Food artist and photographer Carl Warner, said, “When Hotels.com approached me with the idea, I instantly knew this project was right up my bean cobbled, blue cheese street! It was a great opportunity for me to bring images and scenes of these hugely popular foodie destinations to life in an exciting and contemporary way. I hope that these images will not only blow people away, but inspire them to get online, get booking and not just ‘sight-see’ but ‘sight-taste’.” 

The Tasty Travels research also revealed that it’s no longer about the five-star dining experience that costs the same as a house deposit, millennials now prefer local food (45%) to Michelin star restaurants (19%). Eating experiences are in fact now so high on the Millennial travel tick-list, 82% of travelers said foodie experiences stand out the most in their holiday memories. This topped spending time with their travel buddy (22%), and even shopping (19%) #TastyTravels. 

Nelson Allen, General Manager, APAC for the Hotels.com brand comments: “The passion that millennial travellers have for what we at Hotels.com call #TastyTravels, comes from a universal truth – that food is one of life’s greatest pleasures. What’s more, as experiences have become the new social currency, travel opens a door to an amazing array of ‘share worthy’ dishes to try. So, it’s no surprise that younger generation travellers are defining their holidays by what they eat.” 

Flavour-chasing travellers in search of inspiration for their next #TastyTravels can head to the Hotels.com Facebook page to see the three delicious artworks by Carl Warner come to life. Download the Hotels.com mobile app to choose from hundreds of thousands of places to stay in these delicious destinations … get eating! Don’t forget with Hotels.com Rewards you can collect 10 hotel nights and get one free – you’ll most likely spend it scoffing the world’s greatest street food.