More than 80% of the respondents thought that it is “very important” or “quite important” to have an appealing restaurant choice located within or near the hotel when they make the hotel booking decision.
Hotels.com released the results of a survey highlighting the best cuisines in world for ‘foodie’ travellers. Hong Kong respondents ranks their city in the top three across all 5 dining option categories including fine dining, value for money, family dining, authentic local food and street food. The three must-try foods recommended to international visitors by Hong Kong respondents included egg tarts (60%), egg waffles (50%) and wonton noodles (44%) respectively.
Ten must-try Hong Kong local food
| Position | Local food | Votes in % |
| 1 | Egg tart | 60% |
| 2 | Egg waffle | 50% |
| 3 | Wonton Noodles | 44% |
| 4 | Pineapple bun | 31% |
| 5 | Roast Goose | 26% |
| 6 | Fish ball | 21% |
| 7 | Vegetarian shark fin soup | 18% |
| 8 | Deep fried stinky tofu | 17% |
| 9 | Siu Mai | 15% |
| 10 | Red bean pudding | 14% |
The survey also looked into whether food played a role in the decision making process when Hong Kong travellers are choosing a hotel abroad. More than 80% of the respondents thought that it is “very important” or “quite important” to have an appealing restaurant choice located within or near the hotel when they make the hotel booking decision. Hong Kong travellers also tend to look for authentic local cooking (82%) and they also like to try new things (58%).
Global results showed that international travellers favor Italian (32%) and French (24%) cuisine. In addition, several other Asian countries and regions also appeared in the Top Ten list. Japanese cuisine is gaining popularity with 18% of international travellers voting it as the best overall local food.
Global result: best overall local food
| Position | Country/ region | Votes in % |
| 1 | Italy | 32% |
| 2 | France | 24% |
| 3 | Japan | 18% |
| 4 | Mainland China | 13% |
| 5 | Spain | 11% |
| 6 | USA | 10% |
| 7 | Mexico | 8% |
| 8 | Thailand | 8% |
| 9 | Taiwan | 5% |
| 10 | India | 5% |
Results from Hong Kong showed that Japanese food is Hong Kong travellers’ all-time favourite international cuisine – ranking first in four dining option categories (fine dining, value for money, family dining and authentic local food). It also topped (48%) the list of countries/ regions which have the best overall food too. Taiwan came second with 24% of the votes while China and France both received 19% of the votes. Well known for its wide variety of street food and popular night food markets, nearly half of the respondents (47%) ranked Taiwan the first in street food category.
The survey revealed Hong Kongers’ love of travel, with each respondent having visited 6.29 countries on average.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
