There are only a few hours left until the Michelin Guide announces, tonight in Barcelona, its new cast of stars for 2024. And, while that moment arrives, and some make their predictions about which will be the new tri-stars, there are also those who continue to wonder which ones will be They are the variables that favor the granting of brightness by the red guide.
To shed light on this last issue, the Applied Economics Research Group
The first conclusion of the study is that the appearance and maintenance of this typology of restaurants is positively influenced by the potential volume of international clientele, rather than by local clientele. In fact, having a large number of international tourists in a territory very positively affects the number of Michelin star restaurants in a province. They have not found, however, a significant relationship with national tourists or the income level of the local population.
Whether the number of Michelin restaurants grows in a given location could also be positively related to the economic importance of industry or construction in the province. According to José Ignacio Castillo “these restaurants seem to be an appropriate place to celebrate a real estate purchase and sale agreement or a meeting of a large company.”
On the contrary, the study indicates that the total size of the restaurant sector, measured by the number of restaurants per capita, is unimportant when it comes to granting more or fewer stars in a territory. “Just because we have more restaurants or bars, more exceptional restaurants do not arise,” says Castillo. The size of the local agricultural sector does not seem to be important either, but rather its excellence, measured by the authors through the number of Designations of Origin and Protected Geographical Indications per square kilometer of each province.
The results do also show clear, statistically significant synergies within the luxury ecosystems between starred restaurants and 5-star hotels. A relationship that, according to the study, would be bidirectional. That is to say, "a five-star hotel ends up being an optimal location for a starred restaurant to be developed within, such as the hotel designed by Frank Gehry for Marqués de Riscal. But, on the other hand, a restaurant distinguished by Michelin can end up generating your own 5-star hotel if you can't find it in your surroundings, as would be the case of the Atrio restaurant in Cáceres.
