There are countless reasons people travel abroad: sightseeing, adventure seeking, maybe learning a new language. And in our (fortunately) food- and restaurant-obsessed culture, seeking out memorable dining experiences is a huge motivator to jump across the pond. What better way to experience a new culture?
Today, OpenTable announced that we’ve made access to global dining experiences easier than ever for consumers. We launched new functionality enabling diners to search, discover, and make reservations at restaurants across the world on web and mobile — all in their local language. That means our 38,000 restaurants — in Berlin, Dublin, London, Mexico City, Montreal, and Sydney, to name a few — are all now bookable in English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese.
Will Fly for Food
We surveyed 12,000 OpenTable diners (across seven different countries) about their travel habits and learned that they dine out frequently and spend more at restaurants while they are travelling internationally. Here are a few eye-opening stats*:
- 33% travel internationally at least once every three months.
- Almost all respondents (97%) said they eat out at least once a day while travelling internationally. Almost half (48%) do so at least twice a day.
- 73% said they are willing to spend more on dining out when they’re travelling internationally.
- Location, reviews, menu, proximity and price range are the most important factors when deciding where to dine.
- 25% have traveled internationally with the main aim of dining at a specific restaurant.
Interestingly, when they are in a different country, OpenTable diners are most excited about eating like a local. They look forward to trying new cuisines, finding hidden gems and local favorites, and immersing themselves in new cultures.
In addition to helping diners uncover authentic dining experiences, our global platform also allows us to give restaurants exposure to a growing audience of international diners that would be difficult and expensive to target through their own marketing campaigns.
“This is an exciting moment for OpenTable,” says Christa Quarles, our CEO. “For almost 20 years we have been helping diners to discover and make restaurant reservations in their home country. This evolution in how we engineer our current country sites and apps means we can now power great restaurant experiences across multiple cities, in multiple languages, becoming a true ‘Global Dining Passport’ for diners across the world.”
*This research was conducted online by OpenTable among 12,000 diners across seven countries, including Australia, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the UK and United States.
