Location analysis of restaurants in the tourist destination of Varadero, Cuba

Abstract

The main sun and beach destinations in Cuba is Varadero, an adequate planning of the services offered is vital for its management. The growing variety of gastronomic offerings in its 22 km of extension, is not meeting the expectations of customers, for reasons such as the deficient location not only in the plan, but also according to the type of offerings that provide. The objective of this research was to analyze the location of gastronomic services in the Varadero tourist destination. For the development of the work, an extensive documentary review was carried out, interviews with the restaurant managers and the use of geographic information systems and cluster analysis. The analysis of the 43 restaurants in operation in the historic Varadero showed a concentration of 10 establishments per square kilometer. Eleven centroids were detected where the restaurants are located less than 100 meters away, where the majority range being from 30 to 200 meters. There was a significant imbalance in the location and in the supply of facilities in the area, with a clear impact on the variety perception of destination.

Keywords
Location; Distribution; Gastronomic services; Tourism planning