Análise das contribuições da gastronomia no turismo da Paraíba.

Abstract

Increasingly, gastronomy has stopped being just a means to satisfy a physiological need and has been configured as an element that gains prominence within the tourist experience of the individual, especially within the cultural perspective. However, many regions still do not use their gastronomic heritage as a means to attract more visitors. In this sense, the present research seeks to analyze the importance of gastronomy for the development of tourism in the state of Paraíba. To this end, the methodology used in the work is a qualitative and exploratory approach. The research counted on the application of questionnaires to tourists who visited the state of Paraíba and made use of the software Iramuteq for the generation of textual analysis of the data collected in the research. The results showed that the gastronomy of Paraíba has left a positive image with the tourists, in such a way that its particularities have called the attention of this group and motivated them to make a new visit to the state, with the intention of knowing more about the gastronomy of the region. For this, it is necessary that gastronomy starts to gain space in public policies and discussions directed to tourism, being duly incorporated into the tourism routes of the state as an element capable of generating competitive advantage over other destinations.