In 2014, at the eTourism Summit session on Bright, Shiny New Objects, EatWith.com was introduced by Co-founder Guy Michlin. As an altogether new concept, hyper-local dining at a stranger’s home in one of 200 cities seemed rather remarkable. Last November, EatWith raised another funding round in an undisclosed amount from TripAdvisor for further global expansion. 

Headquartered in London, another social dining platform called VizEat is about to launch their app in China. This move comes in response to research indicating that 80 percent of Chinese surveyed are motivated by dining with a host on their travels abroad.

Highlighting cooperation with DMOs, VizEat Co-founder/COO Camille Rumani said this week,  “For destinations, it’s a way to promote the city and country as a food destination and also to show different aspects of tourism and innovation. We have a feeling that if you travel to Paris, it’s difficult to meet Parisians.” [Our experiences] are a completely different asset they can showcase.”

Recognizing the trend, in November Airbnb launched Trips (The Travel Vertical, 11/30/2016) as an expanded product enhancing home stays. The social dining trend in tourism has recently been covered in The New York Times. Read more about “How to Feel at Home on the Road” here.

 

Credit: EatWith / Facebook page