Does local cuisine influence the image of a World Heritage destination and subsequent loyalty to that destination?

Abstract

The World Heritage Cities face various challenges including how to gain the loyalty of tourists and visitors while ensuring sustainability. This study explores tourist loyalty to World Heritage Sites based on traditional gastronomy and in particular the role played by tourists’ satisfaction with restaurants serving local cuisine. First, a literature review was carried out, on the basis of which a questionnaire was developed to administer to a sample of tourists who had experienced the local gastronomy of the city. The objective of this study is to analyse whether the gastronomic satisfaction with the traditional cuisine of the place influences the overall image that visitors have of a World Heritage City, as well as the cognitive and affective image, and their future behaviour in terms of repeating the visit and subsequently recommending the city of Córdoba (Spain). The research method used is PLS-SEM with a structural equation model to evaluate the eight proposed hypotheses. The results show how satisfaction with traditional restaurants influences visitors’ cognitive, affective and overall image of the city, and also positively influences their loyalty to this destination. A novel aspect of this research concerns the influence that satisfaction with traditional restaurants exerts on the image of a destination. As a result, potential areas for improvement in traditional gastronomy at World Heritage sites have been identified.