Gastronomic tourism in Peru: a competitive analysis based on the rankings

Abstract

[eng] Gastonomy tourism in Peru is one of the country’s most powerful strengths to attract tourists, as it has the country’s cuisine been widely recognised as one of the best in the world. It is a very important resource for the country, as it contributes to economic growth, with a positive impact on local businesses’ revenues. Gastronomy can be seen a representation of the country’s diverse culture, which has received many influences during history, making it unique in the world. It is also a representation of the country’s diverse geography, with access to the Pacific Ocean, to the Peruvian Amazonia and also to tall mountains in the Andes range, which provides an immense variety of products to the country’s cuisine. The purpose of this research is to discover at which stage of RW Butler’s Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC) model Peruvian gastronomy tourism finds itself in. The initial hypothesis is that it is currently at the development stage, which is characterised by a rapid growth in the number of visitors and an increase in infrastructure building. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused disturbances in the data that have made determining the stage where Peruvian gastronomy tourism is at a challenging task. In the end, the hypothesis ends up being accepted, after having analysed data regarding tourist arrivals, Peruvian restaurants’ position in the international rankings and previous literature about the topic.