Is gastronomy important for UNESCO world heritage sites’ tourists? A case study from Portugal

Abstract

UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) act as icons to attract visitors seeking to experience cultural (ancient) heritage. Gastronomy, as cultural heritage, reinforces the identity of a destination. Presenting a case study from a Portuguese UNESCO WHS, this study brings insights into how these destinations may deepen the knowledge on gastronomic visitors, contributing to their sustainable development. Specifically, this study aims to identify the importance that visitors give to gastronomy and to identify their differences in terms of profile and travel behaviour, through data collected using a visitors’ survey. Results show that gastronomy can be a major motivator for visiting a WHS and indicate that visitors strongly motivated by gastronomy have differences in terms of demographic profile, motivations and expenditures.