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- O upgrade da imagem do destino com base em eventos - o caso da Região Autónoma da MadeiraPublication . Almeida, António; Franco, Mara; Teixeira, SérgioA organização de eventos constitui uma componente critica de qualquer estratégia de diversificação ao nível dos destinos maduros. A maioria dos destinos procura oferecer um portfolio diversificado de eventos em épocas diferentes ao longo do ano, de forma a atrair e agradar ao maior número possível de clientes. Para além de procurarem imprimir uma lógica de complexidade em termos do core do evento, para atrair a atenção dos visitantes para a riqueza dos recursos culturais, os eventos visam também gerar impactos económicos. Dada a frequência atual de eventos, o que sugere a existência de um risco de saturação, e dado o montante limitado de para promover os festivais, informação sobre o perfil dos participantes atraídos pelos eventos, e informação nos fatores que influenciam o grau de satisfação serão obviamente bem-vindos por uma plateia de stakeholders interessados no sucesso destas iniciativas. Este estudo considera eventos que ocorrem ao longo do ano na Região Autónoma da Madeira, de forma a identificar os fatores críticos de sucesso, para além da identificação do perfil sociodemográfico, organização de viagem e grau de envolvimento com o evento. Devido ao facto de a maioria das variáveis serem do tipo ordinal e categórico, socorremo-nos na regressão categórica para efeitos de identificação das varáveis chave explicativas da satisfação. A análise de diferenças entre os grupos de interesse é feira com recursos á analise multivariada. A análise econométrica aplicada neste estudo utiliza uma amostra de 1830 turistas, com os resultados a permitirem concluir que a satisfação resulta sobretudo das características técnicas dos eventos. Em termos de conclusão consideram-se algumas das medidas relevantes quando se analisa o papel dos eventos de forma estratégica.
- Sport tourism and destination planningPublication . Valls, Josep-Francesc; Mota, Luís; Franco, Mara; Teixeira, Sérgio
- Reopening for Business Post-COVID-19: Augmented Reality as a Strategy for Attracting Visitors to a Tourist DestinationPublication . Franco, Mara; Mota, LuísCritical 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 con siderations 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 dis tancing; 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 eth nographic aspects when visiting a tourist destination, while respecting social-distancing constraints.
- Exploring environmental satisfaction in tourist sites: a view to Madeira IslandPublication . Mota, Luís; Franco, Mara; Marques, Renato; Gaspar, BrunoCharacterizing 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 benchmarked 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 the viewpoint of Cabo Girão, Rabaçal and Santa Maria Street, and. Despite satisfaction being linked to the amount of people crowding an area, Ribeiro Frio was downgraded to the last position regarding on-site concentration of people. 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.
- Social Carrying Capacity in Island Destinations: Interpreting Visitors’ Opinions in Madeira IslandPublication . Mota, Luís; Franco, Mara; Santos, RossanaSocial carrying capacity is an additional dimension of tourism carrying capacity. This paper aims to provide further understanding beyond physi cal values describing carrying capacity for a touristic site on an island destination, namely, the Laurisilva of Madeira. This UNESCO site is the major tourist attraction on the island. The component of social carrying capac ity was added to assess satisfaction levels registered in 481 completed questionnaires and find relevant factors reflecting social values and enjoyment while visiting the site. Nonparametric tests were performed to study the relationship between sociodemographic variables and satisfaction measurements. Statistically, cleanliness and natural conditions, trail amenities, trail conditions, envi ronmental conditions, and pollution levels were the five dimensions relevant to gauging satisfaction related to visiting the natural heritage site. Social carrying capacity showed an average satisfaction of 71%, but mean scores concluded visitors to be only slightly satisfied and differ ences in satisfaction levels regarding the education level of respondents. These are essential dimensions for good site management and for planning management actions for the island destination. This method of analysis is fea sible for site management and is complementary to the corresponding physical thresholds.
- Island tourism carrying capacity in the UNESCO Site Laurisilva of MadeiraPublication . Mota, Luís; Franco, Mara; Santos, RossanaThe 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.
- Cultural dimensions impact on customer’s expectations about the hotel service: application in different HDI Latin countriesPublication . Franco, Mara; Meneses, RaquelDue 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 weights for all the path combinations in analysis for each proposed group of countries with different levels of human development. This research regarded the hotel service and data was 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 and their cultural dimensions. Findings show that cultural dimensions influence in customers’ expectations about hotel service is not equal in groups of countries with different levels of human development (HDI). Theoretically the major contribution is the application of a cross-cultural approach that demonstrated that cultural dimensions influence customers’ expectations about the hotel service differently in developed and in development countries with different levels of social and economic development. Therefore, it also indicates that hotel managers will have to adapt the service according to the level of human development of each group of countries in an internationalization process.
- The influence of culture in customers’ expectations about the hotel service in latin countries with different human development levelsPublication . Franco, Mara; Meneses, RaquelDue to their dynamic nature and importance in the service process defi nition, customers’ expectations have gained attention from researchers and practitioners, and have been essentially focused in developed countries from the Northern Hemisphere. Still, countries, regard less of the hemisphere, have di erent levels of socioeco nomic development and cultural patterns that can have di erent infl uence on customers’ expectations about a service. In this sense, the main purpose of this research is to understand if culture equally infl uences customers’ expectations about a service in countries with di erent cultural patterns and human development levels. The multigroup analysis using structural equation model ling 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 dimen sions. Findings show that cultural dimensions infl uence customers’ expectations about the hotel service di er ently in groups of countries with di erent cultural pat terns and levels of human development. Results also indicate that hotel managers should adapt the service to the level of human development of each group of coun tries when it comes to internationalisation.