Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Sept. 2, 2026 — More than 80 culinary professionals will gather Oct. 4-7 for the 18th Vallarta Nayarit Gastronómica, based mainly at the Sheraton Buganvilias.
Organizers announced chefs, mixologists and specialists from Mexico, Spain, the United States, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Chile.
They also promoted hotel demand as a local benefit. However, PVDN found that the new economic claims do not match the detailed results organizers released for 2025.
Hotel Zone venue concentrates the local impact
The official event website and Puerto Vallarta tourism calendar confirm the Sheraton as the principal venue.
The hotel is at Blvd. Francisco Medina Ascencio 999 in the Las Glorias section of the Hotel Zone. Its location and dates are also listed on PVDN’s Puerto Vallarta events calendar.
The main academic program is scheduled for Oct. 5 and 6. It will include live cooking demonstrations, tastings, workshops, conferences, an exhibition area, and business meetings, according to details released during the event presentation.
The complete session schedule, public admission details, and individual activity times had not been posted as of Wednesday.
Additional activities are planned in San Sebastián del Oeste, Bucerías and Riviera Nayarit. That regional reach means attendance, room-night, and spending totals cannot be assigned entirely to Puerto Vallarta.
The four-day 2026 format is also shorter than the Oct. 12-18 schedule covered in PVDN’s reporting on the 2025 edition.
Michelin-recognized chefs join the program
The announced participants include Benito Gómez of Spain, Paco Ruano, Carlos Gaytán, Rodrigo Rivera Río, Claudia Lara and Colombian chef Natalia Cocoma.
Jalisco Tourism Secretary Michelle Fridman Hirsch said the gathering would bring recognized chefs from several countries.
“We are talking about chefs from different parts of the world who have one or more stars,” Fridman said in Spanish during Wednesday’s presentation.
Organizers said the event would also feature regional products, including raicilla, tequila and chile de Yahualica. The stated goal is to connect visiting culinary professionals with producers, students and hospitality businesses from Jalisco and Nayarit.
Economic claim differs from detailed 2025 results
At the 2026 launch, organizers said the previous edition produced more than 5,500 room nights and nearly 300 million pesos in economic activity. They also cited attendance of about 14,400 people.
We compared those claims with the detailed results reported in February. Event director Carlos Elizondo then reported 6,080 room nights and 16,056 attendees across 77 activities.
Elizondo placed direct economic activity at 112.5 million pesos. He reported another 16.1 million pesos in hotel revenue across Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas.
A separate summary of the organizers’ results listed 321.9 million pesos as the event’s estimated commercial advertising value. It treated that figure separately from direct economic activity.
The near-300 million-peso figure cited at this week’s launch is therefore not the direct-spending total contained in the detailed 2025 report. The newly published account did not explain whether organizers had changed their method or combined different measures.
The reports reviewed by PVDN did not include a public calculation methodology or independent audit. The totals should be understood as organizer-reported estimates rather than verified government tourism data.
Elizondo said the educational program would also bring students from more than 25 Mexican states into direct contact with established culinary professionals. That training component will run alongside the tastings, demonstrations, dinners, and industry events scheduled across the region.
