Tourists' perceptions of beach quality improvement during the off-peak season: a segmentation approach

Recently coastal tourism has increased rapidly and has negatively affected environmental, social and cultural sustainability. The Algarve is the main sun-and-sea tourism destination in Portugal, with a large number of beautiful beaches. Due to negative tourism impacts and climate change, coastal tourism management tools need to be assessed and implemented. Most beach areas have the dual mandate of conserving coastal natural resources and providing opportunities for recreation and tourism. This paper aims to identify off-peak season beach users' profiles and to segment them according to their priorities for sustainable beach management in the face of climate change and seasonality balance. Four beaches with different types were chosen in the municipality of Albufeira as case studies: an urban, a rural, a resort and a remote beach. A cluster analysis was applied to data collected through a survey applied to 200 tourists through face-to-face interviews. The survey aimed to measure beach visitors' opinion about beach environment and services, as well as about the importance of 25 quality beach attributes. The cluster analyses generated three segments of beach users with the following profiles: comfort and food lovers, young and active environmentalists and sustainable minimalists. The results provide valuable information and insights for both academics and beach managers, who can adjust their management tasks to suit market segments and their preferences, fulfilling emerging environmental policies.UIDP/SOC/04020/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The economic impact of recreational trails: a systematic literature review

Recreational trails are a type of nature-based tourism providing various activities such as hiking, biking, rafting or horseback riding. Increasing investment in infrastructure and touristic services development has resulted in higher visitor expenditure and thus contributed to economic development. This study aims to review the current economic impact assessment studies on recreational trail tourism and to extract the main economic impact determinants. A systematic literature review analysis was applied in a quantitative approach about economic models, study cases of nature-based tourism, comparison of economic impacts. A qualitative analysis was then applied with an inductive approach to compare the economic impacts of nature-based tourism forms and identify the main determinants of economic impact. This study suggests that I-O is the most suitable theoretical approach to study the economic impact of long-distance trails, while the Keynesian multiplier approach and Ad hoc model are the most suitable approaches to study the economic impact of short-distance trails.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Recreational trail development within different geographical contexts as a determinant of income multiplier and local economic impact

The development of recreational trails has gained popularity in recent years and therefore many scholars have studied various aspects of them. However, the recreational trail theoretical framework lacks an understanding of the relationship between the stage of trail development and income multiplier value. This research aims to examine this relationship and thus advance the traditional theory of recreational trail economic impact by providing an explanation of the relationship between the stage of trail development and the income multiplier. This study applied a combined approach of Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) to assess the stage of trail development and the Ad hoc model to estimate the income multiplier and economic impact. The results of this study reveal that there is a strong correlation between the stage of trail development and income multiplier and provide a novelty in traditional recreational trail management and economic impact theory thus enriching the topical literature.Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) EAPA_797/2018info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Tourists' perceptions of beach quality improvement during the off-peak season: a segmentation approach

Recently coastal tourism has increased rapidly and has negatively affected environmental, social and cultural sustainability. The Algarve is the main sun-and-sea tourism destination in Portugal, with a large number of beautiful beaches. Due to negative tourism impacts and climate change, coastal tourism management tools need to be assessed and implemented. Most beach areas have the dual mandate of conserving coastal natural resources and providing opportunities for recreation and tourism. This paper aims to identify off-peak season beach users' profiles and to segment them according to their priorities for sustainable beach management in the face of climate change and seasonality balance. Four beaches with different types were chosen in the municipality of Albufeira as case studies: an urban, a rural, a resort and a remote beach. A cluster analysis was applied to data collected through a survey applied to 200 tourists through face-to-face interviews. The survey aimed to measure beach visitors' opinion about beach environment and services, as well as about the importance of 25 quality beach attributes. The cluster analyses generated three segments of beach users with the following profiles: comfort and food lovers, young and active environmentalists and sustainable minimalists. The results provide valuable information and insights for both academics and beach managers, who can adjust their management tasks to suit market segments and their preferences, fulfilling emerging environmental policies.O turismo costeiro cresceu de forma acelerada e tem vindo a afetar negativamente a sustentabilidade ambiental, social e cultural. O Algarve é o principal turístico destino de sol e praia em Portugal, tendo um grande número de praias. Devido aos impactos negativos do turismo e às alterações climáticas, torna-se necessário avaliar e implementar ferramentas de gestão do turismo costeiro. A maioria das áreas de praia tem o duplo desígnio de conservação dos recursos naturais e de oferta de oportunidades para atividades de turismo e de lazer. Este artigo tem como objetivos identificar o perfil dos utilizadores da praia na época baixa e segmentá-los de acordo com as suas prioridades para a gestão sustentável da praia. Foram escolhidas quatro praias de diferentes tipos: uma urbana, uma rural, uma remota e uma praia de empreendimento turístico. Foi aplicada uma análise de clusters aos dados recolhidos através de um inquérito por questionário aplicado a 200 turistas por entrevista pessoal. O inquérito visava medir a opinião dos utilizadores da praia sobre o ambiente e os serviços da praia, bem como sobre a importância de 25 atributos de qualidade da praia. A análise de clusters permitiu identificar três segmentos: amantes do conforto e da comida, ambientalistas jovens e ativos, e minimalistas sustentáveis. Os resultados fornecem informações valiosas não só para investigadores, mas também para gestores de praia, os quais podem ajustar as suas tarefas de gestão para satisfazerem os segmentos de mercado e suas preferências, atendendo a políticas ambientais emergente

Sustainable recreational trail design from the recreational opportunity spectrum and trail user perception: a case study of the Seven Hanging Valleys

Recreational trails represent corridors of benefits to human health and well-being, learning and education through an understanding of other cultures or countries, raising environmental awareness, local economic development, limiting the dispersion of the visitors, linking key attractions of a given area or diversifying tourism markets. However, trail development and design require to keep up sustainability principles and understand trail user perceptions. This paper aims to identify trail management priorities to improve sustainable design and visitor experience. The most popular hiking trail of Portugal located in the Algarve region was used as a study case to describe recreation opportunities of the trail’s management, development stage, preferred trail attributes and determinants of trail visitor loyalty. This study applied the recreation opportunity spectrum framework and the logistic regression model. Planners and managers might utilise these results to identify strategies for nature conservation and sustainable trail development, simultaneously maximising trail-related experiences among loyal trail users.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing the income multiplier of trail‐related tourism in a coastal area of Portugal

Rising demand for access to trail networks has encouraged local governments to invest in trail development. This study is the first attempt to estimate the local income multiplier effect of recreational trail tourism, applying an Ad hoc model. The most popular recreational trail in the Algarve region of Portugal was used as a study case to verify the relevance of the Ad hoc model application. The result acknowledges a significant trail-related contribution to the local economy and rural community development. This study suggests the use of the Ad hoc model to assess the economic impact of local-scale outdoor-recreation activities in terms of income generation.EAPA_797/2018; UIDP/SOC/04020/2020; 2021.07472info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio