Socio-economic impact of the celebration of a popular gastronomic festival in argentina: the strudel fest

Abstract

Cultural heritage and living culture are an integral part of a touristic destination. In recent decades, thanks to a new profile of tourist whose main motivation is meeting and making contact with the local communities’ traditions and lifestyle, the cultural tourism has been fostered. In this context, the aim of this paper is to analyze a popular festivity, which takes place in Santa María (Coronel Suarez, Argentina), a small town founded by Germans immigrants of the Volga and inhabited by their descendants. This event allows the valorization and preservation of German gastronomy, as an intangible cultural heritage of this community. The findings conclude that the touristic, economic and sociocultural repercussions of this event have a stimulating impact on the local economy. However, there are still tensions regarding the estimation of the territory’s carrying capacity.