Gastronomy in Cultural Tourism

Abstract

Cultural tourism consumers seek advice and recommendations from others before making buying decisions. The mobile instant messaging (MIM) boom could create a channel not only for social communication but also for information about cultural tourism and specifically the choice of restaurant. In this research we study which channels are most used by consumers when asking for gastronomic recommendations and, in particular, the factors behind the use of MIM as the preferred channels when obtaining tourist information. For this, an online survey was carried out with a sample of 393 individuals in Spain and descriptive statistical techniques were applied to the processing and analysis of the data. The results obtained show that: (1) its use is determined by its instantaneousness and permanent availability; and (2) people use it due to a lack of knowledge about the area.