Gastronomy as an element of attraction in a tourist destination: the case of Lima, Peru

In recent years, gastronomy has become one of the main sources of attraction in the tourist destinations. The objective of this study is to present the results of a research conducted on the foreign tourists in the city of Lima, a World Heritage Site, which is considered as one of the main gastronomic leaders of the world.. The principal results indicate that foreign tourists have different attitudes toward the local gastronomy. Therefore, the foreign tourists were arranged, following the model developed by Björk and Kauppinen-Räisänen (2016), in three different groups: survivors, enjoyers, and experiencers. Furthermore, it shows that the foreign tourists have different motivations regarding gastronomy, which we have grouped into three dimensions: new food experience, culture, and socialization. The results show that the dimensions new food experience and socialization contribute to a greater degree to gastronomic satisfaction.