Germany Leads with US and Others to Drive Italy Food and Wine Tourism in 2026 as Culinary Travel Demand Surges

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Germany leads with US and others to drive Italy food and wine tourism in 2026 as culinary travel demand surges across key international markets. The trend is part of the increasing interest in visiting Italian vineyards, discovering the local cuisine, discovering authentic restaurants, staying in rural areas and enjoying local experiences throughout Italy. Tourism officials are leveraging food and wine to lure high-dollar tourists, extend their time in the country, and divert them away from high-traffic areas to other areas and into rural areas. The transition also bolsters local food providers and the tourism industry in the area, as well as seasonal tourism. Italy’s approach to culinary tourism exemplifies how such experiences can enhance the attractiveness, spending and overall tourism development of a region around the world.

Germany Leads Italy Food and Wine Tourism With Scale, Spending and Strong Culinary Interest

Germany remains the heavyweight behind Italy’s European tourism economy. During the first nine months of 2025, 11.1 million German travellers visited Italy, up 4.9% year on year. They spent €7.5 billion, an increase of 1.7%, according to ENIT.

Germany’s importance goes beyond overall arrivals. ENIT research found that 56.7% of surveyed German consumers associated Italy with food and wine, making gastronomy one of the country’s strongest tourism assets in this market.

Dedicated food-and-wine tourism research also identified:

• More than 100,000 German culinary travellers
• Around 361,000 overnight stays
• More than €58 million in expenditure
• Strong demand for wine routes, regional cuisine and rural experiences

Italy is therefore benefiting from a mature source market that already understands its culinary identity.

Author insight: Germany’s advantage is scale. Even modest growth in the share of German visitors booking winery tours, farm stays or regional dining experiences can deliver substantial spending outside Italy’s most crowded cities.

US Food and Wine Travellers Are Becoming One of Italy’s Highest-Value Growth Markets

The United States is developing into Italy’s most compelling high-value culinary growth story.

Italy received 1.9 million US travellers in the first half of 2026, generating more than 17.7 million overnight stays. Compared with the same period of 2025:

The dedicated food-and-wine segment is expanding even faster. Italy’s Ministry of Tourism reports that 30,000 Americans travelled specifically for an enogastronomic holiday in 2025, twice the previous year’s level.

These travellers generated €42.3 million in expenditure.

Overall US tourism spending in Italy reached approximately €6.6 billion in 2025, placing the market among the country’s most valuable sources of foreign tourism revenue.

Italy is reinforcing that demand in 2026 through Vinitaly USA in New York and a dedicated ENIT wine-tourism digital platform.

What makes the US market different: American culinary travellers tend to offer Italy an attractive combination of long-haul spending, longer stays and demand for bookable premium experiences such as private tastings, vineyard visits and regional itineraries.

Italy’s €3.1 Billion Wine Tourism Economy Is Moving Beyond the Cellar Door

Italy’s Ministry of Tourism now values the national wine-tourism sector at €3.1 billion, underlining how wineries have become part of a much larger visitor economy.

Modern wine tourism increasingly connects:

• Vineyards and cellar visits
• Farm and countryside accommodation
• Local restaurants
• Cooking experiences
• Villages and heritage sites
• Landscape and nature tourism
• Regional food producers
• Festivals and seasonal events

This model gives Italy an important strategic advantage. A wine trip can move visitors away from a single attraction and create a multi-day journey across an entire region.

Research cited by the Ministry also suggests high repeat potential. 98% of surveyed wine tourists intend to make another wine-related journey within two or three years, while 85% identify Italy as their preferred destination for a future wine experience.

That repeat potential is particularly valuable for destinations trying to build year-round tourism rather than relying only on summer peaks.

Switzerland Records Exceptional Growth in Gourmet Travel to Southern Italy

Switzerland is much smaller than Germany or the United States, but ENIT data reveal one of the fastest rates of culinary-tourism growth.

Among Swiss visitors travelling in southern Italy, gourmet tours centred on local cuisine and wine recorded sharp increases:

The spending increase is particularly striking because it significantly outpaces traveller growth.

That suggests culinary tourism is doing more than simply attracting additional visitors. It is also encouraging higher spending per trip through accommodation, restaurants, tastings, producers and experiences.

For southern Italy, this matters. Food-led tourism can strengthen places that do not receive the same international volume as Rome, Florence, Venice or Milan.

UK Travellers Bring Scale as Italy Pushes Sicily, Sardinia and Calabria

The United Kingdom offers Italy another large tourism base that can be converted into stronger regional culinary demand.

More than seven million British travellers visited Italy in 2025, representing growth of 4.2%. They generated:

• 34.9 million overnight stays
• More than €5.3 billion in tourism expenditure
• Spending growth of 7.6%

ENIT has increasingly connected British demand with the food, wine and landscapes of Sicily, Sardinia and Calabria.

Its 2026 activity in London has promoted these destinations as complete experiences rather than simple sun-and-sea holidays. Regional cuisine, local wine, villages and natural landscapes are being presented together.

The strategy will also feature at World Travel Market London 2026, where Italian food experiences and live culinary presentations form part of the national tourism programme.

Expert analysis: This is particularly important for southern Italy. Britain already supplies high visitor volume. The strategic opportunity is to redirect part of that established demand towards secondary destinations where visitor spending can have a larger local economic impact.

France Uses Italian Food, Wine and Regional Identity to Sell More Than City Breaks

France is being targeted through a similar regional strategy.

ENIT’s 2026 Liguria promotion in Paris combined coast, culture, villages and gastronomy within a single tourism proposition. More than 50 tourism professionals, media representatives and partners participated, while 12 Ligurian food-and-beverage producers supported tastings and promotional activity.

Rather than selling food as an isolated attraction, Italy is using it as an entry point into regional identity.

A traveller interested in pesto, olive oil, wine or seafood can also be encouraged to explore:

• Genoa
• Ligurian coastal towns
• Inland villages
• Rural producers
• Cultural sites
• Local accommodation

This makes gastronomy an effective tool for extending both the geographical reach and economic value of a trip.

Spain Emerges as a Growing Market for Italian Culinary and Regional Tourism

Spain is another market showing strong potential.

ENIT recorded approximately 1.4 million tourism-purpose air arrivals from Spain in 2025, up 5.2%. Spanish tourists spent around €2.4 billion in Italy during the first nine months of 2025.

Several regions captured substantial demand:

At FITUR 2026 in Madrid, ENIT used cooking demonstrations, pesto preparation, regional food tastings and traditional products to strengthen Italy’s culinary appeal.

The opportunity now is to convert existing city-driven Spanish demand into more regional journeys involving Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Veneto, Sardinia and Calabria.

Netherlands Supports Italy’s Slow, Rural and Food-Led Tourism Strategy

The Netherlands gives Italy another valuable European market with an interest in authentic regional experiences.

ENIT provisionally estimated around 830,000 tourism-purpose air arrivals from the Netherlands in 2025, excluding visitors arriving by road, rail and other transport.

At Vakantiebeurs 2026, Italy promoted destinations such as Marche through:

• Medieval towns
• Countryside landscapes
• Outdoor tourism
• Sustainable travel
• Local food
• Regional wine
• Slow tourism

Earlier ENIT consumer research found that 37.8% of surveyed Dutch travellers associated Italy with authentic food and wine.

This profile makes Dutch travellers particularly relevant to destinations that combine gastronomy with cycling, walking, countryside stays and small-town tourism.

Italy’s Foreign Tourism Boom Gives Food and Wine Travel a Powerful Platform

Italy’s culinary push is being supported by wider international tourism growth.

ISTAT recorded 71.6 million overnight stays during Q1 2026, an increase of 7.5% year on year. Foreign tourists represented 54.6% of all nights, while their overnight stays surged 12.3%.

Momentum continued into the second quarter.

Banca d’Italia also recorded €6.8 billion in foreign visitor spending in June 2026 alone, up 4.8% from June 2025.

These figures create favourable conditions for culinary tourism because a larger international visitor base gives regions more opportunities to sell additional experiences.

Food and Wine Tourism Is Helping Italy Redistribute Visitors and Spending

ENIT’s latest broad assessment estimates around 2.4 million international overnight stays linked to food-and-wine-motivated travel, alongside approximately €363 million in foreign spending on related products, services and experiences.

It also reported a 176% increase in stays motivated by culinary interests against the earlier reference period.

That growth has consequences far beyond restaurants.

Food and wine tourism can move visitor spending through an entire regional supply chain, including:

• Hotels and agriturismi
• Restaurants and cafés
• Wineries and vineyards
• Local guides
• Transport providers
• Markets and producers
• Cooking schools
• Small villages and heritage attractions

In conclusion, Germany leads with US and others to drive Italy food and wine tourism in 2026 as culinary travel demand surges because international travellers are increasingly seeking authentic cuisine, vineyard visits, regional experiences and rural stays. Germany, the US, Switzerland, the UK, France, Spain and the Netherlands are among the markets driving Italy’s success in tourism beyond big cities, increased spending by visitors and boosts for local businesses. Today food and wine are a major force of regional growth and of year round tourism in Italy.