The Demand for Gastronomic Tourism—Characterization and Tourists’ Profiles

Cristina Barzallo-Neira and Juan Ignacio Pulido-Fernández ()
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Cristina Barzallo-Neira: Faculty of Hospitality Sciences, University of Cuenca, Cuenca 010201, Ecuador
Juan Ignacio Pulido-Fernández: Department of Economics, Laboratory of Analysis and Innovation in Tourism, University of Jaén, Paraje Las Lagunillas S/N, D3-273, 23071 Jaén, Spain

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-28

Abstract: A key aspect of ensuring efficient management of gastronomic tourism is understanding the demand behavior. The studies conducted so far are limited to analyzing this demand in specific destinations, making it impossible to extrapolate their results to obtain a global profile of the gastronomic tourist. This study aims to address this gap by providing a more generalizable characterization and identifying a series of segments of gastronomic tourists. This has been achieved through a survey conducted with 421 gastronomic tourists on an international scale, using descriptive statistics and latent class analysis (LCA). The results obtained have provided insight into the behavior, willingness to pay, expectations, and experiences of those surveyed. From this, three segments of gastronomic tourists with clearly different profiles have been identified. These findings offer a precise understanding of the demand for gastronomic tourism and provide a strategic basis for designing tailored, conscious policies aimed at maximizing the cultural and economic value of the food heritage of different tourist destinations.

Keywords: gastronomic tourism; tourist demand; characterization; segmentation; latent class analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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