Soft power: Why hotels, restaurants and tour operators are embracing sober tourism

In The Independent’s travel trends column, Trendwatch, we dig into the types of trip, modes of transport and top buzzwords to watch out for.

At the beginning of this year, I wrote about the rise in vegan tourism ‒ not just in the way of restaurants offering vegan options, but whole hotel concepts, tour menus and plant-based venues on far-flung tours. It seemed that the travel industry was finally taking this lifestyle preference seriously, and looking for ways to cater to plant-based diets and a meat-free way of life.

Now it seems sobriety might be the next lifestyle choice to make its mark on the travel world. I started spotting intriguing booze-free concepts a few months ago; first up, Switzerland’s ritzy Grand Resort Bad Ragaz launched an “alcohol-free pairing menu”, created by its director of wine to accompany feasts in its two-Michelin-starred Memories restaurant.

The alcohol-free tasting selection imitates a traditional wine pairing: a sommelier serves teetotal guests kombucha with a starter of caviar with horseradish and chive, followed by a curious tisane made from smoked black tea, quince, pine and Alpine herbs to go with lake char with burnt dairy cream. The difference between the tasting menu and merely offering a decent selection of “low and no” drinks is the thought that goes into them ‒ flavour pairings are not merely selected from a cellar, but actually created, tasted, brewed or infused to go with each course.

The Swiss spa giant wasn’t the only place I noticed stylish sobriety on the menu: several of luxury chalet company Bramble Ski’s Alpine properties now offer an alcohol-free après ski menu, collaborating with booze-free “spirit” brand Seedlip to put some love and creativity into its soft drink options ‒ a significant move for a traditionally alcohol-stacked type of trip.

The menu ‒ featuring genuinely delicious sounding concoctions such as a “Plum Wahe” with Seedlip Spice 94, plum caramel and vanilla ‒ is available at chalets in Courchevel, Verbier and Zermatt, among others. Bramble Ski partly based its decision on a 2019 report by research agency CGA which showed sales of non-alcoholic drinks had surged by 418 per cent in one year.