Analysis of the demand for gastronomic tourism in Andalusia (Spain)

In recent years, gastronomy has become a fundamental motivation to travel. Learning how to prepare gastronomic dishes and about the raw materials that compose them has attracted increasing numbers of tourists. In Andalusia (region of southern Spain), there are many quality products endorsed by Protected Designations of Origin, around which gastronomic routes have been created, some visited often (e.g., wine) and others remaining unknown (e.g., ham and oil). This study analyses the profile of gastronomic tourists in Andalusia to understand their motivations and estimates the demand for gastronomic tourism using seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) models. The results obtained indicate that the gastronomic tourist in Andalusia is very satisfied with the places he/she visits and the gastronomy he/she savours. However, the demand for this tourist sector is very low and heterogeneous; while wine tourism is well established, tourism focusing on certain products, such as olive oil or ham, is practically non-existent. To obtain a homogeneous demand, synergies or pairings should be created between food products, e.g., wine-ham, oil-ham, etc., to attract a greater number of tourists and distinguish Andalusia as a gastronomic holiday destination.