The tourist spending on the last national holiday on August 10 (which was from August 12 to 14) amounted to 49.6 million dollars with a total of 946,000 trips made, according to figures from the Ministry of Tourism.
Although what was recorded in the same holidays of 2020 and 2021 was exceeded, it has not yet been reached what was spent in 2019, which was 55.6 million dollars with fewer trips made (925,000).
The 21 magical towns of Ecuador are evaluated and could lose the category
There is a decrease in travel spending, after the strike last June. The evidence shows that more people decided to leave, but they were measured in their expenses.
It is a reality that is observed in restaurants, which are part of the tourism industry.
Each of the 21 magical towns designated between September 2019 and March 2021 highlights local dishes in their promotion plans, such as Zaruma (El Oro), San Gabriel (Carchi) and Alausí (Chimborazo), which shows the importance of gastronomy as part of the tourist experience.
Carlos Loja, head of the Tourism and Culture Unit of the Municipality of Alausí, affirms that the place offers gastronomy with places that fit all budgets. “We have a hotel and restaurant plant sufficient to receive visitors. We have 26 tourist establishments duly registered that provide the conditions and there are for all socioeconomic levels. There is gastronomy from various parts of the world as Alausí was originally”.
Tourism includes a chain of intermediaries from the service sector, from the driver who transports visitors or the one who rents cars to the owner of the accommodation center, restaurants and bars of the places visited.
Diego Vivero, executive director of the Confederation of Restaurants of Ecuador, asserts that gastronomy ceased to be an accessory in tourism a long time ago and is now the protagonist. “People travel to different destinations and the first thing they look for is places to eat.”
The problem, he says, is that there is a lack of planning in the short, medium and long term on how we want to position national gastronomy after the pandemic.
Vivero recently visited one of the 21 certified magical towns in the country and had a negative experience. “I won’t say what it was, but I waited an hour and a half for terrible service in a restaurant and the hotel where I was had no drinking water,” he says.
The Pueblos Mágicos program must recognize the quality of the destination, not just the magic of the site, he indicates. “It is one thing to be attractive and another to be a destination. We are concerned that this type of recognition is subjective, that is, it is limited to the fact of a beautiful place or space, but without infrastructure”.
The designation is a letter of introduction, a magnet to attract visitors who, upon arrival, run the risk of cognitive dissonance (when two opposing thoughts conflict in the mind of a consumer), says Vivero. “In other words, I arrive with immense expectations because it is a magical town, but there is no drinking water, the electricity goes out all the time, the internet does not work well, issues that are already typical of a tourist destination worldwide.”
Being a Magical Town has to be aspirational, he adds. “The public and private sectors must work to improve what it takes to reach high levels and be appointed. Then, year after year, verify that the quality of the services is maintained and that they continually improve their practices”.
In the case of gastronomy, we must stop imitating the proposals of other countries and find a differentiating factor, the union leader proposes. “Everything should focus on our geographic location, The climatic factor allows having fresh products 365 days a year in which there is an immense and global gastronomic offer, not only local dishes. We have proposed to agree on this. It is a value chain that comes from farmers, restaurateurs, chefs, and waiters. Unfortunately, certain steps have not yet been taken.
Another recommendation is to participate in the competitions and in the global certification processes that they evaluate, in order to revalue the local gastronomy.
Ecuador was going to host the gala in 2020 Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, in which the 50 best restaurants in Latin America were to be awarded. However, due to the pandemic, it was not done and was postponed until November of this year.
Finally, the idea of the country as host of this event, which cost 500,000 dollars, was not consolidated. The award ceremony will take place in Mexico. “If we promote gastronomy, we will have more people in hotels, more operations in travel agencies, people do not come to a place just to sleep, they come in search of experiences and gastronomy is one of them,” says Vivero.
The state of mind of citizens influences the service and consumption of restaurants. The pandemic with the message to stay at home and now insecurity cause instability in the income levels of the places that offer meals.
“When the trend of fear continues, of not leaving, obviously what is achieved is a setback in consumption. The national strike in June caused us to run out of products and sales dropped. We live in a constant roller coaster, some weeks we do quite well, in others it goes down. We have been resisting, but we had to go into debt and loans and now the only thing we ask for is credit lines and the acceleration of labor flexibility, ”she adds. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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