Research Note Quality versus quantity: An assessment of the impact of Michelin-starred restaurants on tourism in Spain Jos ´ e I Castillo-Manzano Universidad de Sevilla, Spain Mercedes Castro-Nun ˜o Universidad de Sevilla, Spain Lourdes L ´ opez-Valpuesta Universidad de Sevilla, Spain A ´ lvaro Zarzoso Universidad de Sevilla, Spain Abstract The number of internationally recognized Michelin-starred restaurants in a place is a new trend used to measure a tourist destination’s culinary standard. The purpose of this study is to close the gap created by the lack of econometric studies on the tourist attraction of Michelin-starred res- taurants, especially in Spain. Panel data methodology is applied to 50 Spanish NUTS-3 regions over a broad time period (2000–2016) to assess the impact of Michelin-starred restaurants on tourism demand from both domestic and foreign tourists. The findings show that restaurant quality is more important than quantity in the gastronomy–tourism relationship and that Michelin-starred res- taurants are a strong attraction for foreign tourists. Some policies are suggested, such as the development of Culinary Schools and marketing campaigns to promote haute cuisine tourism. Keywords gastronomy tourism, Michelin-starred restaurants, NUTS-3 regions, panel data, Spain, tourism demand Corresponding author: Jos´ e I Castillo-Manzano, Applied Economics & Management Research Group, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla 41018, Spain. Email: jignacio@us.es Tourism Economics 1–9 ª The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1354816620917482 journals.sagepub.com/home/teu