Andorra plays the gastronomic card to avoid depending so much on snow

Escaldes-Engordany (Andorra)"Andorra is a country that uses the word a lot diversify Because we used to have a magic formula, and it's been dismantled. The commercial sector is robust, but people tell you that prices aren't what they used to be. "Snow is a huge draw, but there's less and less of it, and resorts are working to stay open in the summer," food journalist Josep Lluís Trabal explains. This is the reason why the Andorran government has made gastronomy a key focus for the past four years, putting a lot of effort into it.

For Trabal, this leap has happened in two phases. First, trained chefs began to arrive. And then there was the second leap, when the institutions made a strategic proposal to attract tourism. The Andorra Taste conference was organized, where chefs received training, were involved, and a network was created among them. Right now, we have a mix of local chefs and chefs from abroad, who, although they aren't always there, bring their own level of excellence. Examples include Nandu Jubany, Josep Maria Kao, Oriol Rovira, and Francis Paniego."

One of the architects of the strategic plan and the organization of the Andorra Taste conference is Benjamín Lana. "When we came here five years ago, the hospitality industry in Andorra was focused on the bill; on making a living. Without taking its eyes off the cash register, it has made a collective commitment to the culture and the country. This will benefit the company and its residents. 'We don't have this down there,' a prominent Catalan chef told me the other day," Lana explains.

There are 495 restaurants in Andorra, and to understand their unique features, Betim Budzaku, manager of Andorra Turisme, puts things in context: "Everything we do is focused on tourism because we have 85 a year. After the Vatican, we are the country that receives the most tourism per capita in the world," explains Budzaku. We bring Cirque du Soleil, we hold cycling events... everything focused on the tourist experience. But this commitment to local gastronomy could be a differentiator on the international level tomorrow," says the manager of Andorra Turisme.

But there's a goal that goes beyond gastronomy, and that is to have a full house 12 months a year. For Budzaku, it's about "creating experiences outside of the typical season that are adapting to climate change. Before, people skied from 10:00 to 5:00, and now there's an impressive gastronomic offering on the slopes. There's more partying. It's like going to Port Aventura, where you can do several things."

When asked about the tourism cap, he says that if we're talking about tourism, "the limit is focused on specific months." "In May, you can grow. In August, you can't. Andorra is a country of balance," says Budzaku. However, if we're talking about residents, they don't yet have a figure for how many people fit into a country with an area of 468 km, 92% of which is forest.