European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 2021
Critical thoughts about tourist destinations overcoming and mitigating impacts from COVID-19 lie ... more Critical thoughts about tourist destinations overcoming and mitigating impacts from COVID-19 lie in the opportunities created by the pandemic. In this paper, an innovative way to attract tourists to Madeira Island and specifically for the Caminho Real (CR) is proposed, assisted by augmented reality. There are important considerations for developing software suitable for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets; values and benefits for sustainable tourism development and for being an educational experience respecting social distancing; and services included in the augmented reality application. Therefore, some propositions are presented to evaluate the possibility of augmented reality as a secure opportunity to show historical, cultural, and ethnographic aspects when visiting a tourist destination, while respecting social-distancing constraints.
Due to its dynamic nature and its importance in the service process definition, customer’s expect... more Due to its dynamic nature and its importance in the service process definition, customer’s expectations have been hardly studied, however, very few focused on the impact of culture on customer’s expectations formation, as customer’s can belong to different cultures. Also, the study of customer’s expectations about tourism services has increased, mostly applied in developed countries from the north hemisphere. Still, countries from different hemispheres have different levels of social and economic development and therefore, can differ in the way that culture influences customers’ expectations about services in groups of countries with different levels of human development. In this sense, the main purpose of this research is to understand if cultural dimensions influence customers’ expectations about a service equally in groups of countries with different levels of human development. The multigroup analysis using structural equation modelling was used to calculate the regression weigh...
The Laurisilva of Madeira is an important natural resource as well as a location for nature-based... more The Laurisilva of Madeira is an important natural resource as well as a location for nature-based tourism and recreational activities. Despite UNESCO’s concerns and recommendations for assessing tourism capacity, the local population is perceived as overusing this resource; yet precisely how many tourists visit its most popular areas remains unknown. Tourism carrying capacity (TCC) was assessed on two Rabaçal trails using a specific formulation relating physical aspects to environmental correction factors. Tourism carrying capacity was found to be below theoretical limits, and trail access was not restricted despite being a major concern in natural resource management.
European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 2020
Due to their dynamic nature and importance in the service process definition, customers’ expectat... more Due to their dynamic nature and importance in the service process definition, customers’ expectations have gained attention from researchers and practitioners, and have been essentially focused in developed countries from the Northern Hemisphere. Still, countries, regardless of the hemisphere, have different levels of socioeconomic development and cultural patterns that can have different influence on customers’ expectations about a service. In this sense, the main purpose of this research is to understand if culture equally influences customers’ expectations about a service in countries with different cultural patterns and human development levels. The multigroup analysis using structural equation modelling was used to calculate the regression weights for all the path combinations in the analysis for each proposed group of countries. About 1262 customers from 10 Latin countries were enrolled in this study to determine their expectations about the hotel service and cultural dimensio...
PurposeThe main purpose of this research is to understand if customers from countries with allege... more PurposeThe main purpose of this research is to understand if customers from countries with alleged similar culture expect services dimensions equally and to understand the level of proximity among those countries.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative methodology was used to test the level of proximity in customers' expectations about a service among different countries with alleged similar cultural patterns and if these customers share similar expectations about a set of service dimensions. This transnational research regarded the hotel service and data were collected from ten Latin countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Romania, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. About 1262 customers answered a questionnaire about their expectations about service dimensions of the hotel service.FindingsFindings show that Latin customers' expectations about services are not equal and that there is a low level of proximity or similarity of customers' expectations about serv...
International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2019
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to get insights on a real-life portfolio of events from a de... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to get insights on a real-life portfolio of events from a demand-centred prospective, based on the identification of factors influencing the degree of attendee’s satisfaction, with the ultimate aim of identifying commonalities and prospective cross-leverage strategies among events. Design/methodology/approach Data from attendees to three major events taking place in Funchal, the capital city of Madeira, were analysed based on multivariate statistics and categorical regression owing to the overwhelming presence of categorical data in the database. The econometric analysis pursued in this paper is based on a sample of 1,830 tourists. Findings The research demonstrates that the impact of the socio-economic variables and travel arrangements on attendees’ satisfaction is rather irrelevant, irrespective of the event under analysis, with cross-cutting factors defining the overall quality of any event (mainly technical aspects such as aesthetical element...
Characterizing tourism sustainability and studying environmental satisfaction in tourist sites, i... more Characterizing tourism sustainability and studying environmental satisfaction in tourist sites, is part of a pilot study taking place in Madeira island. Tourism stakeholders and associations of relevant tourism services were interviewed to diagnose environmental issues arising from tourism activity and to identify tourist sites with priority in the study. Satisfaction was benchmarked in four tourist sites using individual attributes and overall fulfilment after experience on Madeira island. Sites ranged from two well known walking routes in Rabaçal and Ribeiro Frio, representing a concern regarding conservation and visitation to the UNESCO site, the Laurisilva of Madeira; the viewpoint of Cape Girão with a skywalk positioned at 580m high, and the Santa Maria Street in Funchal, a popular street for eating-out, nightlife and street art paintings on entrance doors of the buildings. The experimental hypotheses assumed the same satisfaction level for all sites and by comparing Means of independent samples T-test, tourist sites were classified for the study. Ribeiro Frio was pointed out as hotspot for tourism activity with many apprehensions, but statistics revealed the highest level of environmental satisfaction among visitors and tourists, followed by Santa Maria Street, Rabaçal and the viewpoint of Cabo Girão. Despite environmental satisfaction being linked to the amount of people crowding an area, Ribeiro Frio was downgraded to the second position regarding onsite concentration of people being equal to Cabo Girão. Rabaçal was ranked on the last position.XI INTERNATIONAL TOURISM CONGRESS - ITC´19 | 66 Such information is crucial for tourism planning and to assist further development. Parks, protected areas and tourist sites have attached an important perceived value, having managers interested in understanding visitors’ opinion in order to overcome challenges related to management, protection and conservation issues
European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 2021
Critical thoughts about tourist destinations overcoming and mitigating impacts from COVID-19 lie ... more Critical thoughts about tourist destinations overcoming and mitigating impacts from COVID-19 lie in the opportunities created by the pandemic. In this paper, an innovative way to attract tourists to Madeira Island and specifically for the Caminho Real (CR) is proposed, assisted by augmented reality. There are important considerations for developing software suitable for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets; values and benefits for sustainable tourism development and for being an educational experience respecting social distancing; and services included in the augmented reality application. Therefore, some propositions are presented to evaluate the possibility of augmented reality as a secure opportunity to show historical, cultural, and ethnographic aspects when visiting a tourist destination, while respecting social-distancing constraints.
Due to its dynamic nature and its importance in the service process definition, customer’s expect... more Due to its dynamic nature and its importance in the service process definition, customer’s expectations have been hardly studied, however, very few focused on the impact of culture on customer’s expectations formation, as customer’s can belong to different cultures. Also, the study of customer’s expectations about tourism services has increased, mostly applied in developed countries from the north hemisphere. Still, countries from different hemispheres have different levels of social and economic development and therefore, can differ in the way that culture influences customers’ expectations about services in groups of countries with different levels of human development. In this sense, the main purpose of this research is to understand if cultural dimensions influence customers’ expectations about a service equally in groups of countries with different levels of human development. The multigroup analysis using structural equation modelling was used to calculate the regression weigh...
The Laurisilva of Madeira is an important natural resource as well as a location for nature-based... more The Laurisilva of Madeira is an important natural resource as well as a location for nature-based tourism and recreational activities. Despite UNESCO’s concerns and recommendations for assessing tourism capacity, the local population is perceived as overusing this resource; yet precisely how many tourists visit its most popular areas remains unknown. Tourism carrying capacity (TCC) was assessed on two Rabaçal trails using a specific formulation relating physical aspects to environmental correction factors. Tourism carrying capacity was found to be below theoretical limits, and trail access was not restricted despite being a major concern in natural resource management.
European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 2020
Due to their dynamic nature and importance in the service process definition, customers’ expectat... more Due to their dynamic nature and importance in the service process definition, customers’ expectations have gained attention from researchers and practitioners, and have been essentially focused in developed countries from the Northern Hemisphere. Still, countries, regardless of the hemisphere, have different levels of socioeconomic development and cultural patterns that can have different influence on customers’ expectations about a service. In this sense, the main purpose of this research is to understand if culture equally influences customers’ expectations about a service in countries with different cultural patterns and human development levels. The multigroup analysis using structural equation modelling was used to calculate the regression weights for all the path combinations in the analysis for each proposed group of countries. About 1262 customers from 10 Latin countries were enrolled in this study to determine their expectations about the hotel service and cultural dimensio...
PurposeThe main purpose of this research is to understand if customers from countries with allege... more PurposeThe main purpose of this research is to understand if customers from countries with alleged similar culture expect services dimensions equally and to understand the level of proximity among those countries.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative methodology was used to test the level of proximity in customers' expectations about a service among different countries with alleged similar cultural patterns and if these customers share similar expectations about a set of service dimensions. This transnational research regarded the hotel service and data were collected from ten Latin countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Romania, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. About 1262 customers answered a questionnaire about their expectations about service dimensions of the hotel service.FindingsFindings show that Latin customers' expectations about services are not equal and that there is a low level of proximity or similarity of customers' expectations about serv...
International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2019
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to get insights on a real-life portfolio of events from a de... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to get insights on a real-life portfolio of events from a demand-centred prospective, based on the identification of factors influencing the degree of attendee’s satisfaction, with the ultimate aim of identifying commonalities and prospective cross-leverage strategies among events. Design/methodology/approach Data from attendees to three major events taking place in Funchal, the capital city of Madeira, were analysed based on multivariate statistics and categorical regression owing to the overwhelming presence of categorical data in the database. The econometric analysis pursued in this paper is based on a sample of 1,830 tourists. Findings The research demonstrates that the impact of the socio-economic variables and travel arrangements on attendees’ satisfaction is rather irrelevant, irrespective of the event under analysis, with cross-cutting factors defining the overall quality of any event (mainly technical aspects such as aesthetical element...
Characterizing tourism sustainability and studying environmental satisfaction in tourist sites, i... more Characterizing tourism sustainability and studying environmental satisfaction in tourist sites, is part of a pilot study taking place in Madeira island. Tourism stakeholders and associations of relevant tourism services were interviewed to diagnose environmental issues arising from tourism activity and to identify tourist sites with priority in the study. Satisfaction was benchmarked in four tourist sites using individual attributes and overall fulfilment after experience on Madeira island. Sites ranged from two well known walking routes in Rabaçal and Ribeiro Frio, representing a concern regarding conservation and visitation to the UNESCO site, the Laurisilva of Madeira; the viewpoint of Cape Girão with a skywalk positioned at 580m high, and the Santa Maria Street in Funchal, a popular street for eating-out, nightlife and street art paintings on entrance doors of the buildings. The experimental hypotheses assumed the same satisfaction level for all sites and by comparing Means of independent samples T-test, tourist sites were classified for the study. Ribeiro Frio was pointed out as hotspot for tourism activity with many apprehensions, but statistics revealed the highest level of environmental satisfaction among visitors and tourists, followed by Santa Maria Street, Rabaçal and the viewpoint of Cabo Girão. Despite environmental satisfaction being linked to the amount of people crowding an area, Ribeiro Frio was downgraded to the second position regarding onsite concentration of people being equal to Cabo Girão. Rabaçal was ranked on the last position.XI INTERNATIONAL TOURISM CONGRESS - ITC´19 | 66 Such information is crucial for tourism planning and to assist further development. Parks, protected areas and tourist sites have attached an important perceived value, having managers interested in understanding visitors’ opinion in order to overcome challenges related to management, protection and conservation issues
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