Gastronomic tourism on the rise. Profile of the gastronomic tourist in Cuenca (Ecuador)

The main objective of this research was to identify whether gastronomic tourism is developed in the city of Cuenca (Ecuador), next to other questions such as: what is the profile of the gastronomic tourist, tourist resources associated with local gastronomy, level of tourist satisfaction, and economic contribution of gastronomic tourism. A mixed research method supported by the SPSS statistical program was used to evaluate the reliability, level of correlation of variables and other statistical techniques to validate the results found. It should be noted that gastronomic tourism is indeed being developed, in spite of the existence of a limited offer of products of this type of tourism. However, the economic contribution is very significant. In addition, and as a fundamental contribution, the results presented will serve as a reference for the generation of projects and plans in the short or long term, which will allow the consolidation of Cuenca as a gastronomic tourist destination.