Sun, sea and gastronomy as a tourism resources: Tourist profile of Salinas Beach, Santa Elena province

Abstract

Sun and Sea tourism continues expanding throughout the world, mainly due to the attraction of relevant eco-systemic services, such as the scenic beauty and the recreational activities that a place offers. In the same way, this sector is one of the most important sectors that contribute to the economy of many countries in the world. That is why there is a large amount of research related to the identification of tourist profiles and motivations of them in choosing different locations, is important because such information is essential to produce comprehensive estimates of the economic benefit of this type of tourism in a specific area. The objective of this research is to examine the profile and motivations of tourists who arrive at Salinas city in Ecuador. The type of research is exploratory, which field work was done on the down town, considering a sample of 473 tourists to whom a questionnaire with closed questions was applied. The results revealed that the tourists that visit Salinas, are mostly women who come from the largest provinces in the country such as Guayas and Pichincha, with university studies, which visit the place mainly on weekends and prefer to stay in a hotel.  Among the main motivations to visit Salinas, are the beach, especially for the whale watching and the gastronomic variety. This suggests that strategies to strengthen tourism in Salinas should be designed and developed to promote sun and beach activities and gastronomy as one of the main tourist attractions of the city. Good management based on initiatives such as the creation of culinary routes could be an alternative to implement strategies aimed at local social and economic development.