Trip.Gourmet, the food and dining brand operated by Trip.com Group, released its 2027 Fine Dining List on September 8, recognising 744 restaurants across 105 cities and 40 countries and regions — the platform's broadest culinary index since its debut a decade ago. The list is tiered into three distinctions: Black Diamond (60 restaurants), Diamond (160) and Platinum (524), with 34 new destinations added this year spanning Europe, North America, Oceania, Asia, South America and Africa.
Regional Breakdown
Asia-Pacific anchors the list by volume, with 478 restaurants — nearly two-thirds of the global total — spread across 51 cities, including 32 Black Diamond honours led by Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. Europe claims the widest geographic spread, with restaurants recognised across 20 countries and regions and 35 cities, anchored by Paris and London, and 23 Black Diamond designations. The Americas contribute 63 restaurants across 14 cities, led by New York. The list's newest frontier — South Asia, the Middle East and Africa — adds 17 restaurants across five cities, including Dubai and Cape Town. Singapore, the host city for this year's global launch event, holds 27 spots across all three tiers, with Odette, Les Amis and Restaurant Labyrinth earning Black Diamond honours.
Booking Access and New Features
Beyond the rankings, Trip.Gourmet introduced two platform features with direct implications for high-end dining operators. First, its global table-booking network now covers more than 43,600 restaurants worldwide — nearly 40,000 of them international — with many available for direct reservation through the Trip.com app. Second, the newly launched WOW Privileges programme targets the platform's Black Diamond membership tier, unlocking scarce next-month reservations at hard-to-book restaurants on the first of each month. The programme currently offers more than 320 scarce seats annually, along with benefits including priority seating, chef's greetings and limited-edition menus. For operators running sought-after rooms, that kind of curated allocation channel represents a structured pipeline for high-intent, high-spending diners.
Trip.Gourmet also introduced a China Travel Culinary List to help international visitors navigate menus, dietary requirements and reservations across Chinese cities. The first rollout covers 30 cities, with expansion to 100 cities planned over time — a relevant development for global restaurant operators eyeing inbound tourism demand from Asia.
Food Search Demand Surges
The list launch is backed by internal platform data pointing to accelerating consumer interest in food-led travel. Food-related searches on the platform rose 45% over the first eight months of 2026, with the number of distinct food search terms up 46% over the same period. Searches for restaurants specifically grew 68%, while interest in local specialities climbed more than 700% and seafood searches surged 218%. Users engaging with food-related content were also meaningfully more likely to keep exploring: about 41% of food-related search interactions led to continued browsing, versus 28% across all search categories.
Geographic growth in food search is expanding beyond traditional strongholds. Since Trip.Gourmet entered European markets in May 2026, food-related search grew sharply across Italy, Spain, Germany and France. Within Asia-Pacific, Indonesia posted a 347% increase in food-related search volume, Japan rose 130% and Hong Kong SAR climbed 71%. "Today's travellers are no longer just enjoying food at their destination — increasingly, a single meal is shaping where they choose to go, and when," said Sunny Sun, Vice President of Trip.com Group and CEO of Trip.Gourmet.
For operators in the fine dining and hospitality segment, the data reinforces a structural shift: culinary reputation is increasingly a primary driver of destination choice, not a secondary amenity. Restaurants that secure placement on globally distributed discovery platforms stand to benefit from traveler intent that is already formed before a flight is booked.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
