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- User's profile of thermal establishments: a literature reviewPublication . Rodrigues, Cristina; Ferreira, Fernanda A.; Costa, Vânia; Alves, Maria José; Vaz, Márcia; Fernandes, Paula Odete; Nunes, AlcinaContemporary society has an increasingly broad and holistic perspective on health and wellness. It is scientifically proven that thermalism perfectly combines these two aspects. It provides a better quality of life and a complete state of well-being, physically and psychologically. Several studies have been carried out over the years, reflecting a paradigm shift in the conception of thermalism establishments. For this reason, the sector's stakeholders need to be prepared and have the necessary knowledge to respond to the different needs, characteristics, and motivations of both usual and new thermal users to define better action strategies. In this context, the research's main objective is to present a literature review and content analysis on the thermalism topic, through the most recognised databases, exploring the offer, identifying its users’ profiles and pointing out some trends for the market. As a result of the analyses, the growing interest and relevance of thermalism in scientific production stand out, particularly in tourism, as a social science. There are several studies that present a direct link between thermalism and tourism activity. It is notorious that thermal activity has both a recreational and medicinal dimension, all over the world. Literature analysis has also revealed the power of thermal waters for the treatment of a wide range of diseases and health issues, related to different medicalspecialities. Although the more traditional thermalism is still very present, the most recent studies portray some gradual changes on the demand and supply side, with a constant adjustment of both. Particularly in the user profile, there is evidence of a rejuvenated, healthier and heterogeneous demand, with different motivations to frequent the thermal spas. On the supply side, it can be seen that these establishments are seeking to reinvent themselves in order to complement their basic offer related to medical dimension, also focusing on the leisure, to enrich the experience of their regular users and attract others. Regarding the expected trends, they are mainly related to 1) Increased demand for prevention, leisure and well-being dimension; 2) Changes in the user profile; and 3) High potential for tourism activity.
- 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
- User's profile of a portuguese thermal establishment: empirical studyPublication . Vaz, Márcia; Alves, Maria José; Ferreira, Fernanda A.; Costa, Vânia; Rodrigues, Cristina; Fernandes, Paula Odete; Nunes, AlcinaThe thermal tradition plays an important role for society by naturally promoting and improving individuals' wellbeing. Thermal treatments help cure diseases and prevent pathologies, including mental and social ones, providing users with a better quality of life. At the same time, such a wellness activity introduces leisure components resulting from a more holistic perspective on health and well-being. Given the importance of this topic, which just recently started to be the object of empirical studies in Portugal, the present study aims to identify the profile of those who attend a thermal spa. For this purpose, a self-administrated questionnaire was applied to the Termas de Chaves' users during the 2021 thermal season, i.e., between August and November. A convenience method of non-probability sampling allowed to obtain a sample of 220 thermal users. This establishment, located in the sub-region of Alto Tâmega, North of Portugal, has 300 years of history and vast experience in providing thermal services for different audiences. To better understand and identify the features of the thermal spa user, sociodemographic data were analysed and identified the characteristics, motivations, behaviours, preferences, and perceptions of the thermal spa users under study. The data collected was submitted to treatment through an exploratory quantitative analysis. The distribution data analysis was elaborated using frequencies, centrality and variability descriptive measures complemented by TwoStep cluster analysis. The results showed that most of the participants in Chaves thermal spa are women, with an average age of 69 years (SD=12.556), married, retired, and living in the northern region of Portugal. They seek these services in the season between summer and autumn, for medical advice, mainly for therapeutic reasons, and stay in the thermal spa, on average, for 14 days (SD=2.667). Moreover, the cluster analysis identifies three different groups of users to which thermal stakeholders should consider different policy approaches. By defining the users' profile, this empirical research presents a practical contribution since it provides a strategic orientation for the thermal establishments' stakeholders aiming, essentially, at the (re)qualification of supply and the increase of demand, thus contributing to the sectoral and regional competitiveness.
- 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.