Netflix show causes food tourism increase
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – DECEMBER 17, 2025: Participants Jung Ho-young, Hudukjuk, Monk Sunjae, Son Jong-won, producers Kim Eun-ji and Kim Hak-min, Yoon Jumo Yoon Nara, French Papa, Chinese Cuisine Witch and Baby Beast pose at the press conference for Netflix series Culinary Class Wars: Black and White Chef Season 2 at JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square. Jongno-gu, Seoul. (Photo by iMBC/Imazins via Getty Images)
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South Korea netflix The “Cooking Class Wars” program, which completed its second season on January 13, is making a splash in the food industry.
Reservations and waiting lists for contestants’ restaurants increased by an average of 303% five weeks after the show’s second premiere, compared to the previous five weeks. According to a report by restaurant reservation platform CatchTable. It was published through South Korean media.
“Culinary Class Wars” reflects the dichotomy between street food and Michelin-star experiences by categorizing chefs as “Black Spoons” (secret masters) and “White Spoons” (elite) chefs, and audiences have been eager to taste both ends of the spectrum.
This is especially true for Millennials born between 1981 and 1996 and Gen Zers born in 1996 or later who want to experience cultures other than their own, according to Euromonitor International’s Asia-Pacific 2025 lifestyle survey.
Interest in culinary tourism
Dawn Teo, chief operating officer of Singapore-based hotel and restaurant developer Amara Holdings, said reservations for restaurants featured in the Netflix show were “impossible” during a trip to Seoul last October.
Teo said the impact of the show “made people sit up and take notice”.
South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced in December a shift to include food tourism in its 2026 strategy, and the country is not alone in travelers’ growing interest in food.
Food was one of the main drivers of record tourism spending in Singapore Between January and September 2025, according to the Singapore Tourism Board. Tourists’ food and beverage revenues increased by 15% compared to the same period in 2024, despite an increase of only 2.3% in the total number of visitors.
In Japan, approximately 82% of tourists reported: Eating Japanese food was one of their travel expectations The rate increased from approximately 70% in 2015 to 2024.
According to Erik Wolf, founder and chief executive of the World Food Travel Association, food is a way for travelers to experience authentic culture.
“It’s less about travel and more about the culture around the world. Especially after the pandemic, people want to go to more rural places, secondary and tertiary places. They want to really get to know people,” Wolf told CNBC during an interview.
Gourmet-street food dilemma
Hotels are responding similarly to this growing interest in cuisine.
Nearly 1 in 5 travelers are specifically looking for new restaurants or culinary experiences; 60% of luxury travelers prioritize hotels with good dining options. Hilton’s 2025 Trend Report.
“Nowadays, restaurants in hotels [just] Be it hotel restaurants. They should be restaurants like restaurants [in their own right]”or using spaces as venues as venues,” according to Candice D’Cruz, Hilton’s vice president of luxury brands Asia Pacific.
D’Cruz added that the focus should be on the entire experience for consumers, from seasonal produce to where the glassware is sourced. “If I’m going to Japan, I want to eat white peaches during peach season. I also want to eat strawberries and white strawberries during peach season. [the] season,” he told CNBC in an interview.
In Singapore, Amara Holdings aims to fulfill this desire for cultural experiences by offering guided tours of hawker centers and local markets near its flagship hotel in downtown Singapore.
“If a guest doesn’t dine with us for breakfast, lunch or dinner, but goes to another Zi Char place or hawker center nearby to eat,” said Amara’s Teo, “it shouldn’t be seen as a loss” Zi Char, meaning cheap street food.
Teo said that hotels’ ability to provide proximity to authentic cultural experiences should be seen as an asset.
Customers look at fruits at a stall at a street market in Singapore on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. Singapore’s tourism revenues rose 6.5% year-on-year to a record S$23.9 billion ($18.8 billion) in the first three quarters of 2025.
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Wolf noted that most people do not frequently eat at upscale or gourmet restaurants when traveling, and suggested: Michelin-starred restaurants can draw people away from a destination they may associate with high costs.
While Michelin includes luxury experiences in its guide, it also highlights local street vendors or cheaper stalls. When Hawker Chan, a former Michelin-starred restaurant, was awarded the award in 2016, it had a $3 chicken rice dish on its menu.
Yet according to Capella Singapore Hotel’s culinary director Eric Neo, “fine dining is more about intent, about storytelling, giving us the opportunity to interact, to curate an experience for guests,” while casual dining is more about “pace,” he said during an interview.
On Capella’s tour of local markets, chefs act as guides, guiding guests through the process of selecting ingredients and bringing them back to the kitchen to prepare a meal.
Neo said it would also extend invitations to chefs outside Singapore as part of its desire to “develop a culture of learning between two different countries.” He said that such experiences are not only for hotel guests, but also for chefs to broaden their horizons. Capella brought in the Korean American chef and “Kitchen Class Wars” contestant Edward Lee To Singapore in August to prepare a celebratory dinner.
Stating that we should not overlook the historical and cultural influences behind the foods we consume, Wolf said, “especially the influence of women in the preservation of culinary culture” and “the seeds of cuisine in agriculture”.
