The shift extends well beyond hotel bookings and airline seats. It creates scalable opportunity across hospitality, franchising, packaged foods and destination marketing. Platform data now shows that food increasingly determines where travellers go — and how much they spend once there.
Why Asian food is gaining ground
Asian full- and limited-service restaurants recorded stronger sales growth than the overall restaurant industry across major regions. Outside the Asia-Pacific region, Asian restaurant sales grew at an 11% compound annual growth rate from 2020 to 2025, compared with 7% for the wider full- and limited-service restaurant market. Asian food brands accounted for 38% of global retail value sales of chilled and frozen ready meals in 2025, according to Euromonitor International. That figure reflects deep, structural consumer demand — not a passing travel trend.
Trip.com Group data confirms a parallel shift in booking behaviour. Trip.com Group reported that food-related searches increased by 45% during the first eight months of 2026, while the number of distinct food-related search terms increased by 46%. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s tourism sector generated US$8.43 billion in foreign-exchange earnings in the first half of 2026, up from US$8.20 billion in the same period of 2025, according to official government figures.
The commercial signal is clear. Local dishes are becoming scalable global assets — for operators, investors and governments alike.
Ten dishes Western travellers seek most
The ten dishes Western travellers seek most span Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China and Korea — covering a range of formats from street food to premium dining.
What does the opportunity mean for investors?
The opportunity extends well beyond restaurant equity. Food tours, cooking classes, hotel partnerships and packaged products all capture the same demand at different price points and margins.
Quick answers
Asian dishes accounted for 38% of global retail sales of chilled and frozen ready meals in 2025, according to Euromonitor International data.
The ten most sought-after dishes include sushi, ramen, pad thai, pho, nasi goreng, satay, dim sum, Korean barbecue, tom yum and laksa — spanning Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and China.
Indonesia’s tourism sector generated US$8.43 billion in foreign-exchange earnings in the first half of 2026, up from US$8.20 billion in the same period of 2025, with food-driven visitor interest contributing to that growth.
