Centro de Investigação Aplicada em Turismo

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Organizational Unit

Publications

Regional products and typical dishes in restaurants in the Autonomous Region of Madeira

Publication . Sousa, Bruno; Pereira, Helena; Sequeira, Cármen

Madeira's regional cuisine, which includes typical dishes and characteristic local foods, is an unmistakable attraction for tourism of this region. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of dishes and typical foods of Madeiran gastronomy in the menus of restaurants in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. For this study we used a search engine widely used by tourists, “Tripadvisor Portugal®” and made the search for “restaurants” and as a place “Madeira, Portugal”. From the results presented were searched in the menus of the restaurants that presented it online, the presence of the main typical local foods as well as the main dishes of the regional gastronomy. Of the total of 100 restaurants presented, only 48 made the menu available online, which most were in the Funchal (92%). Of the restaurants that provided the menu, we found that the most common typical food was the scabbardfish (52.1%) followed by passion fruit (41.7%), tuna fish (39.6%), banana (39.6%), sweet potato (37.5%) and avocado (29.2%) Typical regional dishes include black scabbardfish fillet (52.1%), tuna steak (27.1%), “espetada” (27.1%), grilled limpets (27.1%) and tomato soup (25%). Thus we find a good expression of local dishes and food in the menus of tourist restaurants, but we think they could be more present and with a greater variety, giving opportunity to those who visit the Autonomous Region of Madeira to know the regional gastronomy, which is a factor of cultural identity of this region.

2020Conference object

Open access

The role of attachment in the choice of tourist destination of emigrants: a preliminary study

Publication . Sousa, Bruno; Santos, Rossana; Azevedo, Diana

2020Conference object

Open access

The character and uniqueness of Madeira’s natural and cultural heritage as determining factors for sports tourist products

Publication . Soares, Jorge; Nunes, Naidea

2020Book part

Open access

Cultural dimensions impact on customer’s expectations about the hotel service: application in different HDI Latin countries

Publication . Franco, Mara; Meneses, Raquel

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 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.

2020Conference object

Open access

Exploring environmental satisfaction in tourist sites: a view to Madeira Island

Publication . Mota, Luís; Franco, Mara; Marques, Renato; Gaspar, Bruno

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 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.

2020Conference object

Open access