Browsing by Author "Scalabrini, E.C.B."
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- Destination image through TripAdvisor’s reviews analysisPublication . Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Ferreira, Jessica; Zekan, Senka Borovac; Fernandes, Paula OdeteTourists’ satisfaction and motivation have been recurrent themes in tourism literature. In recent years these themes have also been addressed based on online evaluations carried out by tourists, TripAdvisor is one of the most used sites. In this context, this study aims to analyse the image of Bragança’s tourism destina- tion based on TripAdvisor reviews during the pandemic period (2020–2022). To this end, 1444 quantitative and qualitative reviews of attractions, hotels, and restaurants in Bragança, Northern Portugal, were analysed. Based on the Latent Dirichlet Allo- cation Algorithm three dimensions were determined for the attractions, two dimen- sions for the hotels and two dimensions for the restaurants. The descriptive statistics made it possible to establish that the municipality has a positive tourist image. Given results, theoretical and practical implications of this important Marketing theme are presented.
- Economic benefits for protected areas in Portugal: the case of tourism sector enterprisesPublication . Melgo, Ana Carlos; Fernandes, António B.; Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Fernandes, Paula OdeteProtected areas are spaces recognized for their natural, landscape and cultural values, and whose preservation constitutes a collective interest. Enterprises located in a natural area can have economic benefits, understood as coordinated strategies for allocating various resources, for the conservation and sustainable use of these areas, seeking the rational use, or protection of resources and the environment. In this context, the research aim is to study the economic and financial benefits related to protected areas in Portugal, focusing on companies in the tourism sector. For this purpose, three hypotheses were established relating the variables of region and business size (H1), region and business performance (H2) and business size and performance (H3). The indicators return on equity, return on assets, and economic value added were calculated based on information extracted from accounting documents, in the SABI database, of enterprises located in protected areas by county, by size, distinction of parks and regions, contemplating a total of 87,130 companies. Based on the Kruskal–Wallis test, all hypotheses were confirmed, evidencing those enterprises from the north of Portugal presented lower indicator values than the country’s other regions. Thus, actions are needed to improve the performance of these regions and increase the others.
- From reviews to emotions: analysing Bragança’s tourism attractions on TripAdvisorPublication . Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Ferreira, Jessica; Fernandes, Paula Odete; Moraes, ThiagoOver the past decade, sentiment analysis has emerged as a pivotal tool in tourism-related texts, driven by the sheer volume of tourist attractions and the wealth of online information. Tourists increasingly turn to travel websites to access specific information that often eludes standard evaluations of tourist attractions. Forums particularly illuminate specific information needs and their ties to potential destinations. Among these platforms, TripAdvisor has become a favoured choice for posting reviews, ratings, and facilitating online bookings. In this context, this study aims to analyse and assess sentiment in reviews sourced from the online platform TripAdvisor, focusing on tourist attractions in the northern Portuguese destination of Bragança. The research spotlights the disparity between qualitative and quantitative rankings. The study also underscores the importance of data pre-processing, including removing irrelevant information and stop words. Pre-processing was crucial in refining sentiment prediction accuracy, highlighting the differentiated roles of these words in context and meaning. Despite utilising advanced techniques such as tokenisation, TF-IDF weighting, logistic regression, and n-grams, the study‘s models encountered challenges in achieving high accuracy in sentiment prediction. Even the incorporation of bigrams did not yield substantial performance improvements, with the models frequently inclined to overestimate negative and positive sentiments.
- Learning by Doing Experience: Students’ Motivations and Perceptions of a Blended Intensive ProgrammePublication . Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Form, Stephan; Moutinho, NunoThis research investigates the learning by doing approach in education, centring on a business simulation game carried out in a Blended Intensive Program (BIP) developed by a European consortium of higher education institutions, named the STARS EU consortium. The program, which involved professors and aspiring entrepreneur students, was designed to equip students with practical business knowledge in a safe and risk-free setting. In this context, this study aimed to identify the participants’ motivations and perceptions of the knowledge acquired from the program. Based on a questionnaire applied to 26 participants, there is evidence of a high level of students’ motivation to attend the program and a positive perception of their knowledge after completing it. This work allows us to conclude that new learning methods, such as business simulation and learning by doing, are essential for the new generation of students.
- Motivation, satisfaction and loyalty in outdoor tourismPublication . Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Fernandes, Paula OdeteOutdoor tourism is a topic that has been increasingly studied since its practice has been growing. So, understanding motivation, satisfaction and loyalty are essential in planning. In this regard, this study aimed to analyse the relationship between motivation, sa tisfaction, and loyalty among practitioners of outdoor activities in the Northern Region of Portugal. To this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to 216 practitioners of outdoor activities in the Northern Region of Portugal. Three hypotheses were defined; two were tested with Stepwise Multiple Regression and one with linear regression. The results highlighted the existence of a relationship between motivation, satisfaction, and loyalty and between satisfaction and loyalty, corroborating the hypotheses. This demonstrates the importance of knowing the reasons why outdoor activities practitioners choose the region, and how they are satisfied and will transform satisfaction into loyalty. Knowing these factors will enable more effective destination planning that fits practitioners' needs.
- Natural parks image: an analysis of tripadvisor reviewsPublication . Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Vaz, Márcia; Teixeira, João Paulo; Rivas Rojo, Carlos Jesus; Murial Alonso, David; Garrote Mestre, Lucía; Fernandes, Paula OdeteNatural parks and protected areas have been a significant subject of tourism studies. Understanding the image that visitants have of these areas is important to the planning process, and the analysis of online reviews is a method- ology used in different investigations. TripAdvisor is the most used review aggre- gator in these studies. In this context, this research aimed to analyse the image of three cross-border natural parks based on TripAdvisor reviews. For this, 321 reviews of the Montesinho Natural Park (Portugal), Douro International Nature Park (Portugal) and Arribes del Duero Natural Park (Spain) were collected and analysed using the machine learning techniques known as Latent Dirichlet Allo- cation. Two dimensions were determined for the Montesinho (scenery and nature), two for Douro International (activities and nature) and three for Arribes del Duero (water-based activities, nature, activities). The dimensions were measured on a 1–5 scale It can be concluded that the three parks present a positive image, with averages higher than 4, being 4.47 points (±0.703) for the evaluation of Mon- tesinho, 4.48 (±0.671) for Douro International and 4.50 (±0.703) for Arrribes del Duero. The common dimension in the three parks was nature, which also presented the best average in the three realities. This study presented as a limitation the use only of TripAdvisor for data collection, suggesting the use of other platforms in future studies.
- Outdoor tourism demand segmentation: a case study from North of PortugalPublication . Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Correia, Alexandra I.; Nunes, Alcina; Veloso, Cláudia M.; Vieira, Elvira Pacheco; Ferreira, Fernanda A.; Silva, Goretti; Fonseca, Manuel José; Carrança, Paulo; Santos, Sónia; Fernandes, Paula OdeteThis research aimed to segment the market of visitors who practise outdoor activities in the North region of Portugal based on their motivations. To this end, a survey was applied to visitors who practised outdoor activities in the region. The data was collected between June and September of 2021, and a final sample of 200 valid questionnaires was obtained. ln an overall analysis of the socio-demographic and professional profile of the respondents, it can be said that the sample is constituted by women (50.5%), aged between 28-38 or over (58.5%), with higher education levels (70.5%), single (53.3%) and Portuguese (94.5%), with an average monthly income between 601€ and 2400€ (74%). Most of them live in the Porto Metropolitan Area (25%) located in the Northern region of Portugal. Relating to outdoor activities, 35.5% of the sample occasionally practise these activities in their residence area, and 20% practise 1-2 times a week. The activities most practised were walking/hiding (28.8%), running (11.7%), and cycling (9.5%). This research demonstrates that segmentation of outdoor tourism demand in North of Portugal should set out marketing and promotion strategies in different destinations, attracting demand, from outside the region and according to their preferences. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature by expanding the discussion on outdoor tourism segmentation, an underestimated topic.
- Outdoor tourism demand segmentattion: a case study from North of PortugalPublication . Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Correia, Alexandra I.; Nunes, Alcina; Veloso, Cláudia M.; Vieira, Elvira Pacheco; Ferreira, Fernanda A.; Silva, Goretti; Fonseca, Manuel José; Carrança, Paulo; Santos, Sónia; Fernandes, Paula OdeteThis research aimed to segment the market of visitors who practise outdoor activities in the North region of Portugal based on their motivations. An online survey was conducted between June to September of 2021, with a sample of 200 tourists who realised the region's outdoor activities during this period. The data collected allowed determining factor analysis and the clusters. Two factors: services/hospitality and nature experiences, and three clusters: soft practitioners, radicals, and enthusiasts were delimited. The results show that these groups differ in motivations and practised activities. Segmentation of outdoor tourism demand in North of Portugal should set out marketing and promotion strategies in different destinations, attracting demand from outside the region, and according to their preferences.
- Profile Tourists Using TripAdvisor's ReviewsPublication . Ferreira, Jessica; Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Fernandes, Paula OdeteThe profiling of tourists according to their decision behaviour is not new. Still, the popularity of the Internet and its increasing role in tourist decisions is becoming an essential area of research. TripAdvisor uses various methods to profile tourists based on their interactions and behaviours on the platform. This study utilised TripAdvisor reviews to profile tourists visiting Bragança, Northern Portugal, during the pandemic period of 2020–2022 and the search for quality of life. The analysis involved 1443 comments and classifications from city attractions, hotels, and restaurants. MAXQDA, a qualitative and mixed-methods data analysis software, facilitated content analysis, examining qualitative data and socio-demographic variables, quantifying text analysis using MAXDictio, profile comparison charts, and word exploration. Findings indicated that 2020 had the highest number of comments, with restaurants receiving the most feedback, followed by attractions and hotels. Demographic analysis revealed a predominantly male gender, primarily within the age ranges of 31–60. International tourists outnumbered domestic visitors, with Spain, Brazil, and France being the most prevalent foreign nationalities. Gender was linked to ratings, with a prevalence of maximum positive ratings. While men predominantly provided comments, women expressed more positive sentiments. This research contributes insights into tourist profiles in Bragança, derived from TripAdvisor reviews, including preferences, demographics, and experiences during the pandemic period.
- Residents’ perception of tourism: a systematic review from 1978 to 2019Publication . Scalabrini, E.C.B.; Remoaldo, PaulaResidents are crucial stakeholders in tourism development and their perceptions towards this activity have been studied since the 1970s. Since then, studies in this area have expanded considerably, including review papers. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate this evolution and to explore critically methodologies applied in studies about residents ́ perceptions towards tourism between 1978 and 2019 and published in the ten most impactful tourism journals according to the Scimago Journal Ranking (2018). In a total of 260 papers, the main results showed that Tourism Management was the journal with the largest number of papers published. Most studies were quantitative in nature and atheoretical. The Social Exchange Theory has been the theory most frequently applied to date. The papers focused on residents ́ perceptions, specifically in tourism destinations, natural areas, events and mega-events. New lines of research in future studies about this subject are suggested to provide new perspectives in this study area.