The price-competitiveness of Peruvian gastronomy

In theory, Peru could use its recently gained international reputation as a culinary destination as a lever to improve the competitiveness of its tourism sector. However, no single factor can, by itself, make a destination competitive, and Peru has the disadvantage of being located far from the world’s main outbound tourist markets. The aim of this paper is to analyze the price-competitiveness of Peruvian gastronomy relative to its main Latin American competitors. I do so by comparing the cost of the baskets of products and services acquired by gastronomic tourists from 15 countries who have visited Peru with the cost of acquiring the same baskets in five alternative gastronomic destinations: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. Results show that, overall (considering both local and travel costs), Mexico is the most price competitive destination for gastronomic tourists, followed by Colombia and Peru, with Brazil and Argentina being the fourth and fifth, respectively.