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.

Olive oil has generated a new tourism offer in Spain called oleotourism. Visitors can enjoy landscapes of ancient olive groves and visit its oil mills called almazaras, to learn about its manufacture and to taste different oil varieties. Andalusia, located in the south of Spain, produces 60% of Spain’s olive oil, having the largest number of almazaras, and therefore most oleotourism offers. This differentiated tourism offer requires identifying the profile of oleotourists to determine sustainable strategies to increase demand without harming the local community. The objective of this study is to identify the Andalusian oleotourism offer according to the profile of oleotourists and project its demand evolution, in order to offer a sustainable product best suited to the demand. With this aim, three techniques are applied in this study: a random survey addressed to oleotourists in Andalusia, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the oleotourism sector in the region, and finally, its demand is projected by using the ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) model. The results indicate a favorable future scenario that should induce entrepreneurs and local authorities to invest in promoting and developing a product. Oleotourism is an alternative that can serve as a complement to agricultural income and generate employment.

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.

Iberian/serrano ham is a food product with a long tradition in the Spanish diet that is increasingly demanded by national and international consumers. Spain has 5 protected designations of origin (PDO) and two protected geographical indications (PGI) that support the quality of this product, which is manufactured only in the Iberian Peninsula. Since 2013, and based on the culinary product of ham, public entities and some businessmen have been trying to promote tourism related to ham, similar to wine-based tourism. In this study, we attempt to understand the profile of a ham tourist in the three existing routes in Andalusia, as well as ham tourism’s potential demand through seasonal auto-regressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) models. The results show that the profile of a ham tourist is similar to that of other typologies such as a tourist of wine or oil, and the demand has slow growth due to the novelty of this new tourism offering. Thus, there is a need to design strategies that allow the development of ham tourism, which will lead to an increase of wealth via employment in the local community.