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- Literary tourism in Northern Portugal: an exploratory perspectivePublication . Sousa, Bruno; Liberato, Pedro; Liberato, Dália; Pereira, Carina; Rodrigues, Cristina; Costa, Adriano; Malheiro, Alexandra; Esteves, Elsa; Carvalho, Pedro
- Tourism sustainable practices in rural territories: the case of Caretos de PodencePublication . Rodrigues, Cristina; Liberato, Dália; Melo, CarlaIn rural communities several elements attract the contemporary tourist, such as the authenticity of the culture, being of particular importance the involvement of residents, as a key factor for the emancipation of the community and for local development. In this context, the question "How can a rural community emancipate itself through tourism activity?" arises. This article aims to present re ections on integrating the principles of sustainability in tourism, in these communities. The research presents as a case study a village in Portugal, Podence, which is characterized by the socio-economic dynamization of its intangible cultural heritage, distinguished by UNESCO. Following a qualitative approach, the method of semi-structured interviews was applied to understand the local perspective on tourism development. The results show the positive contribution of tourism activity to the community, through cultural enhancement and by the dynamization of the local economy. The importance of the cultural legacy for the well-being of the population, contributing to its sense of belonging, is notorious.
- Improving accessibility as a strategy for social sustainability in tourism supplyPublication . Liberato, Dália; Liberato, Pedro; Vieira, Ana; Rodrigues, Cristina; Mendes, TeresaTourism is a citizens’ right. Therefore, all of society has the right to enjoy tourism experiences regardless of individual preferences. The increase in the elderly population (+ 65 years), the high number of people with disabilities (physical, hearing, intellectual, and cognitive) in the world and the growing desire to travel, has accelerated the interest and concern for accessibility, to provide a better experience to these tourists, increasing practices and strategies under the “Accessible and Inclusive Tourism.” However, this tourism segment still has a long way to go, since many barriers persist. The present research aims to analyze accessibility in cultural heritage. For the collection and analysis of information, the qualitative method was selected, exploratory descriptive study, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with representatives of official entities, stakeholders, interpreter-guides, and associations of two medium-sized destinations in Northern Portugal (Braga and Guimarães), with the aim of assessing accessibility in the historical-cultural heritage in medium-sized cities of particular relevance. The city of Guimarães was distinguished as a World Heritage Site, being associated with the birth of Portugal as a nation, bringing an enormous relevance in terms of valorization and empowerment of its historical and cultural heritage by a segment that is increasingly more universal (accessible), having here the concern to evaluate urban policies in terms of accessibility to heritage and tourism destination. According to the typologies framed in Accessible Tourism, it is possible to highlight that, regarding the percentage of tourists with reduced mobility who visit tourism destinations, and, of these, which ones are interested in cultural heritage and what degree of satisfaction they express, the two tourism destinations analyzed do not account for this type of data, since it is a very residual public. Regarding other types of disabilities, some projects have been developed. Considering the definition of strategies to implement in the access to heritage, it is possible to evidence that, despite the improvements made by the destinations, the existing cultural heritage is not completely accessible, existing mainly architectural barriers. The results show that accessibility is being considered as a strategic opportunity for the targeted tourism destinations, however these are still partially accessible, and it is expected that the path to accessibility is a complex process and applicable in the medium to long term.
- Pricing strategy for green hotel industryPublication . Ferreira, Flávio; Ferreira, Fernanda A.; Rodrigues, CristinaHolistic health and prevention are increasingly at the center of tourists’ decisions. Tourists expect to may continue their health and wellness lifestyles when they are away from home. Hospitality can find in the “health and wellness” sector a good response to the requalification needs for the post-COVID period. In fact, since 1900s, the hospitality niche of health and wellness has been increasing around the world, and it has been an important issue for the profit growth for the hospitality destinations. But what is wellness tourism? The Global Wellness Institute defines wellness tourism as travel associated with the pursuit of maintaining or enhancing one’s personal wellbeing. Several hotels have introduced green innovation as the innovation that emphasizes health, safety, and environmental friendliness and implementation of environmental management to ensure ecological wellbeing. One way for hotels to be environmentally friendly is to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. In this paper, we will study the effects of corporate social responsibility policies in the hotel industry. To do that, we will model a non-cooperative hotel competition using game theory concepts. We recall that game theory is a formal, mathematical discipline that studies situations of competition and cooperation between several involved parties and aims to help us understand situations in which decision-makers interact. The model consists in a competition between a CSR hotel and a state-owned (SO) hotel that set room rates. The choice of room rates can be made either simultaneously or sequentially. Our main result is that the CSR hotel profits more than the SO hotel, regardless of the order of movements.
- Rural regeneration through creative tourism: local discourses on cultural heritagePublication . Rodrigues, Cristina; Mendes, Teresa; Liberato, Dália; Brandão, Filipa; Esteves, Elsa; Liberato, PedroAlternative forms of tourism are gradually emerging, as tourism transforms itself and adopts new forms of consumption and development. It is therefore necessary to understand the new approaches to tourism sustainability in order to achieve more transformative results for destinations and their local communities. This research aims to identify creative tourism as the most equitable approach to achieving the sustainability and the regeneration of rural territories. Thus, the general objective is to understand how Cultural Heritage, as a tourist resource, can be used to promote regenerative impacts in a rural region of Portugal, particularly in Trás-os-Montes. As part of a qualitative methodology, the focus group interview technique was applied to three of the destination's stakeholders: Municipalities; Tourism agents; and Residents, to discuss the tourism promotion of a very particular heritage and its implications. The main results identify the greatest consensus among the participants, essentially regarding the suitability of creative tourism for the Cultural Heritage under study, from different perspectives. As well as five potential regenerative benefits for the destination: (i) Local Sourcing Practices, (ii) Social and Cultural Involvement, (iii) Sustainable Economic Performance, (iv) Inclusiveness Management, and (v) Education and Capacity Building, associated with nine United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Literary tourism in Northern Portugal: proposals based on literary routesPublication . Liberato, Dália; Liberato, Pedro; Sousa, Bruno; Pereira, Carina; Rodrigues, Cristina; Costa, Adriano; Malheiro, Alexandra; Esteves, Elsa; Carvalho, Pedro
- Accessibility in tourism: optimizing the tourism experience through social sustainability interpretationPublication . Liberato, Pedro; Liberato, Dália; Vieira, Ana; Mendes, Teresa; Barreira, Hugo; Rodrigues, CristinaAccessibility has become one of the main key issues in tourism today, as it determines the extent to which an individual can participate in the activities/experiences provided by the sector in each destination. It ensures that all products, services, and facilities will be developed for everyone to use and that all will benefit from them. This is reflected in the accessibility related to the absence of obstacles to the use of the tourism product still present in the infrastructures, public transport, information, technology, or communication services. The improvement in accessibility may ensure opportunities for access, safely and autonomously, to equipment, transport, spaces, and information, allowing most segments to participate in all activities of daily life in an independent, comfortable, safe, and without discrimination of any kind. This research establishes the objective of identifying the accessibility measures adopted in the cities of Braga and Guimarães, in the Northern Region of Portugal, through issues related to the specific training of employees, the use of new technologies as a competitive advantage, the concern with presenting information in various formats and the appropriate means of transport. For the collection and analysis of information, the qualitative method was selected, an exploratory descriptive study, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with the official responsible, stakeholders, interpreter guides, and associations of each tourist destination. The results show that, despite the improvements diagnosed in recent years, the regions still face some barriers. The measures frequently identified with the aim of optimizing accessibility in tourism destinations were specifically the use of access ramps (removable or definitive) and the introduction of adapted toilets.
- Scientific narratives on creative tourism: a theoretical frameworkPublication . Rodrigues, Cristina; Liberato, Dália; Esteves, Elsa; Liberato, PedroIn the last decade, the literature on creative tourism has grown tremendously, in effective number of studies and consequently citations, becoming an emerging, relevant, and increasingly complex topic in contemporary tourism literature. This scientific advancement generates a large volume of information, opening space for different perspectives, multiple related issues, but also many consensual ideas. It is therefore essential to synthesize all this knowledge and bring clarity to the state of the art on creative tourism. Following this line of thought, the main objective of this paper is to provide a current scientific framework in this research area, from a conceptual point of view, presenting the most relevant issues, with focus on sustainability. To this end, a large body of scientific literature was analyzed through a combination of two techniques, namely content analysis and systematic literature review. These techniques were applied as a research methodology to identify keyword trends understanding its meaning and analyze the main links between creative tourism and tourism sustainability, respectively. Main results provide a critical analysis of its characteristics as well as the correlations between creative tourism and the sustainable development of tourism activity, highlighting the sustainable matrix of this new model of tourism.
- Literary tourism: literature developments and research lines from 2015 to 2020Publication . Rodrigues, Cristina; Liberato, Dália; Esteves, Elsa; Sousa, Bruno; Liberato, Pedro; Costa, Adriano; Pereira, Carina; Malheiro, Maria Alexandra; Carvalho, PedroAlthough literary tourism is still an understudied field, the beneficial relationship between tourism and literature is becoming very clear. Literary tourism involves the literary heritage of places, namely visits to sites related to literary works and the lives of writers. There are already some empirical studies that demonstrate the importance of this type of tourism as a guarantee of cultural enrichment of destinations and sustainable tourism practices. This tourism has begun to be explored in the development of tourism products and experiences, such as itineraries, or infrastructures linked to literary heritage that increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of destinations. This study analyzes literary tourism as a field of research and explores its state of the art through a bibliometric review that includes content analysis. For this purpose, articles published in the period 2015–2020, identified in the Web of Science database, were analyzed. The results identify the main topics of these publications and their temporal analysis, the research methods and techniques applied, the case studies related to authors and works, also the geographies studied and some important insights on literary tourism that address different dimensions. Overall, this study provides a rich understanding of the contemporary study of literary tourism, in a particularly rich period in terms of scientific advances in this area, still under-expressed.
- Understanding behavioral intentions in a spa experience: insights from contemporary literaturePublication . Rodrigues, Cristina; Ferreira, Fernanda A.; Costa, Vânia; Alves, Maria José; Vaz, Márcia; Fernandes, Paula Odete; Nunes, AlcinaThe current emphasis on quality of life and its importance in contemporary society has brought light to the entire health and wellness industry, particularly spa facilities. These places have become very desirable and popular for health, well-being, and leisure. This popularity is largely influenced by the offer of positive experiences full of benefits for the body and mind. Therefore, it is essential to understand what makes these experiences positive and satisfying or, on the opposite, what can make them negative and what aspects can compromise a positive and memorable spa experience, important for the success of these establishments. Following this line of thought, the main objective of this study is to understand, from the existing literature, the consumption behavior toward a spa experience, from the consumers’ point of view. This paper was developed based on content analysis and literature review, a systematic and narrative approach. These three techniques were applied as a research methodology to identify keyword trends, report findings and conclusions from previous empirical studies, and discuss substantive aspects related to this topic. The findings of the three techniques are consistent and provide an overall and specific understanding of the consumer perspective regarding spa experiences. The main results highlight the most critical aspects affecting satisfaction, service quality, and perceived consumer value and identify three key moments that can systematize the spa experience: expectations, consumption, and consequences. The theoretical discussion presented in this study is valuable for spa managers. It provides several important management implications and recommendations for their success.