In recent years, gastronomy has become a fundamental motivation to travel. Learning how to prepare gastronomic dishes and about the raw materials that compose them has attracted increasing numbers of tourists. In Andalusia (region of southern Spain), there are many quality products endorsed by Protected Designations of Origin, around which gastronomic routes have been created, some visited often (e.g., wine) and others remaining unknown (e.g., ham and oil). This study analyses the profile of gastronomic tourists in Andalusia to understand their motivations and estimates the demand for gastronomic tourism using seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) models. The results obtained indicate that the gastronomic tourist in Andalusia is very satisfied with the places he/she visits and the gastronomy he/she savours. However, the demand for this tourist sector is very low and heterogeneous; while wine tourism is well established, tourism focusing on certain products, such as olive oil or ham, is practically non-existent. To obtain a homogeneous demand, synergies or pairings should be created between food products, e.g., wine-ham, oil-ham, etc., to attract a greater number of tourists and distinguish Andalusia as a gastronomic holiday destination.

The aim of this research is to study visitor loyalty at a destination with heritage sites and to use the results to improve the competitiveness of the destination. This study used the SPSS AMOS software with a model of structural equations to evaluate the proposed hypotheses. A questionnaire was given to a sample of 428 tourists who visited the heritage sites in Córdoba. The management of any World Heritage City needs to know about the visitors’ experience at the destination, which includes their expectations for the trip, expected quality of the destination, satisfaction with the destination, and how these affect visitor loyalty to the city, because it is important to get the visitor to recommend, and return to, the destination. In the case of Córdoba, the research has proven that visitor loyalty depends on visitor satisfaction with the destination, which depends on the perceived quality and value of the visit. In addition, the following areas for improvement have been identified: improvement of the information about the destination, improvement of waiting times and the professionalization of specialized tour guides at heritage sites. Therefore, the findings are important for city managers in order to be able to take actions which increase the loyalty to, and competitiveness of, the city compared to other similar destinations with heritage sites.

Andalucía, located in the southern region of Spain, is the world’s largest producer of olive oil. It is home to over 70 million olive trees, which shape the distinctive landscape of the olive groves typical of the Mediterranean Basin. This research focuses on analyzing the olive grove landscape and the rich culture associated with the olive tree as a tourist activity known as oleotourism. This form of tourism would attract an increased number of tourists and generate funds for the preservation of the olive tree heritage if UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site, similar to other cultural landscapes. Furthermore, it would help diversify the region’s tourism industry, which has traditionally focused on sun and beach tourism. This study is a continuation of previous research initiated by the authors in 2017. It is observed that the profile of oleotourists before and after the COVID-19 pandemic has not varied significantly, although there has been an increase in the number of people engaging in this type of tourism, as evidenced by the results obtained with the SARIMA model. The SARIMA model is used for forecasting and analyzing time series data. These findings indicate that investing in this tourism activity would be profitable for local residents, making it a sustainable form of tourism that is compatible with the environment and the local community.

The profile of tourists during the COVID-19 pandemic is changing toward those seeking health, safety and quality products. One of the modalities that best adapts to these needs is gastronomic tourism and, within this segment, wine tourism (enotourism), which can be enjoyed in many areas across the world. The great diversity of grapes, climates, terrains and winemaking processes gives rise to an enormous variety of wines that ensures that no two wines are alike. The current situation of the tourism market necessitates enhancing the uniqueness of areas that offer differentiated products, helping to position such locations as benchmarks for gastronomic tourism. Gastronomic routes provide a way to unify and benefit rural areas through the recently increased demand of tourists seeking to experience regional foods. In this study, the Montilla-Moriles Wine Route is analyzed with the objective of forecasting the demand (using autoregressive integrate moving average, ARIMA models), establishing a tourist profile and calculating the probability that a wine tourist is satisfied with the visit based on their personal characteristics (logit model). The results obtained indicate a slight increase (3.6%) in wine tourists with a high degree of satisfaction, primarily derived from the gastronomic or catering services of the area, from the number of wineries visited, from the treatment received and from the age of the tourist. Consequently, a high percentage of these tourists recommend the route. By increasing the demand for enotourism in this area and applying the results obtained, marketing initiatives could be established, particularly for wine festivals to improve this tourist segment and generate wealth in that area.

Traveling to learn about the gastronomy of a destination is becoming increasingly important among tourists, especially in the wake of the pandemic. Quality foods endorsed by protected designations of origin (PDOs) are increasingly in demand, as are experiences related to their production processes. In this study, the seven PDOs in the province of Córdoba (Spain) are analyzed. These PDOs produce olive oil, wine or ham. A field study was performed, whereby 315 gastronomic tourists who visited a gastronomic route or a PDO in Córdoba were surveyed. The objective was to characterize the profile of visiting tourists and to anticipate future demand using ARIMA models. The results indicate that the growth in gastronomic tourism in Córdoba is lower than that in the wider region, and that there are no significant differences among the different profiles (oil tourist, enotourist and ham tourists) due in part to the fact that most tourists travel from nearby regions. The novelty of this study is that three products are analyzed, and strategies are proposed to deseasonalize this type of tourism, for example, by creating a gastronomic brand that represents Córdoba and selling products under that brand (especially in international markets), by highlighting raw materials and prepared dishes and by making gastronomy a complement to heritage tourism in the city and rural tourism in the province.

In recent decades, there has been a change in tourists’ tastes; they want to experience something novel. To satisfy this demand, a new type of tourism, known as “dark tourism”, has arisen; it has various modalities, among which cemetery tourism and ghost tourism stand out, in addition to very different motivations from those of the cultural tourist. In this type of tourism, cemeteries are not visited to appreciate their architecture or heritage but to explore a morbid curiosity about the people buried there; ghost tourism or paranormal tourism seizes on the desire to know the events that occurred there and tends to have macabre content. This study analyzes dark tourism in the province of Córdoba in southern Spain with the aim of knowing the profile of the tourist and his motivation. This study additionally will forecast the demand for this type of tourism, using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models, which allow us to know this market’s evolution and whether any promotional action should be carried out to promote it.