80 DOI: 10.1344/THJ.2023.5.5 Gastronomic tourism on the rise. Profile of the gastronomic tourist in Cuenca (Ecuador) Benalcázar Lucano, Hugo a Rodríguez Marín, Francisco b Guevara Plaza, Antonio c a Ph.D candidate University of Málaga, Spain, hugo_benalcazar@uma.es b Faculty of Tourism, University of Málaga, Spain. c Faculty of Tourism, University of Málaga, Spain. ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Received 31 st of May 2023 Accepted 18 th of December 2023 The main objective of this research was to identify whether gastronomic tourism is developed in the city of Cuenca (Ecuador), next to other questions such as: what is the profile of the gastronomic tourist, tourist resources associated with local gastronomy, level of tourist satisfaction, and economic contribution of gastronomic tourism. A mixed research method supported by the SPSS statistical program was used to evaluate the reliability, level of correlation of variables and other statistical techniques to validate the results found. It should be noted that gastronomic tourism is indeed being developed, in spite of the existence of a limited offer of products of this type of tourism. However, the economic contribution is very significant. In addition, and as a fundamental contribution, the results presented will serve as a reference for the generation of projects and plans in the short or long term, which will allow the consolidation of Cuenca as a gastronomic tourist destination. Keywords: Cuenca; Ecuador; Gastronomy Motivations; Tourism. Gastronomic tourism will reach its climax when traditional cuisine is considered at the same level of importance as the endemic flora or fauna at the place being visited. The author. 1. INTRODUCTION For many years, eating while doing different tourist activities has been a basic need of the tourist. However, this has been changing to such an extent that today a new tourism market with its own needs and motivations has been established, such as gastronomic tourism, where the main objective of the tourist is to carry out various activities related to the gastronomy of the destination visited. In addition, it allows the destination to advertise its intangible cultural heritage (ICH) linked to the traditional gastronomy that is part of its cultural identity, as stated by UNESCO in the Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH, without dismissing to mention that it allows improving the quality of life in rural areas (Troncos & Arzeno, 2019) and strengthening food sovereignty.