Culinary tourism bookings jump 303%
Restaurant bookings reportedly surged 303%, driven in part by the South Korean Netflix show “Culinary Class Wars,” which is steering travelers to book food‑first itineraries and featured venues. That tidal wave is reshaping destination demand—Sicily, Oaxaca and Chiclana de la Frontera are being bumped up on travelers’ lists. (curlytales.com) (businesstimes.com.sg)
CatchTable — the South Korean reservation platform behind the trend report — compared customer activity on its app for the five weeks after Season 2’s Netflix premiere with the five weeks before and reported a sizeable uptick in bookings and waitlist registrations for restaurants owned by contestants ( ). Season 2 of the Netflix series premiered on December 16, 2025 and the season’s final episode was released on January 13, 2026, providing the exact calendar window used by analysts tracking post‑airing reservation behaviour ( ). When Seoul’s metropolitan government staged a chef pop‑up after Season 1, CatchTable opened 150 reservations and nearly 450,000 users tried to book — roughly 3,000 people competing for each available spot, underscoring demand spikes that predate Season 2’s wider global exposure (abcnews.com). Netflix data and syndicated reporting show Season 2 debuted at No. 1 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 (Non‑English TV) in December and remained on that chart for five consecutive weeks, and Netflix has confirmed a third season of the series ( ). A separate industry analysis by Shinhan Card’s Big Data Research Institute found that restaurants run by chefs who appeared on the show saw visits rise 42.2% in one study period, with two‑star Michelin venues among the fastest‑growing segments at +34.9% in that dataset (en.sedaily.com). Travel trade and lifestyle outlets report operators are packaging more “food‑first” itineraries since the series’ global push, and several itemized destination lists compiled by travel writers name spots such as Sicily, Oaxaca and Chiclana de la Frontera as receiving increased interest from food‑minded travellers ( ).
