EsACT - Publicações em Proceedings Indexadas à WoS/Scopus
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- Residents’ perception of tourism development: a perspective from a low-density territoryPublication . Martins, Márcio Ribeiro; Martins, Catarina Antónia; Alves, JorgeThis study explores residents' perceptions of tourism development in the Mirandela municipality, Portugal. The research aims to understand tourism's socio-cultural and economic impacts from the residents' perspective, considering both positive and negative effects. The study employs a quantitative approach through the survey of 358 residents. Findings reveal that younger residents (<30) have a more positive perception of tourism's impacts, and those with undergraduate studies have less favourable perceptions. Rural residents have more positive perceptions than urban residents, and there is no significant difference in perceptions between those involved in tourist activities and those not involved. Residents who view tourism as beneficial showed higher mean scores across several items than those who view tourism as harmful or neutral. No significant differences were found regarding the increase in the cost of living. This research highlights the importance of involving local communities in tourism planning and development to ensure balanced and sustainable growth. The conclusions present several practical and managerial implications and provide actionable recommendations for policymakers and professionals in tourism, sustainable development, and community planning.
- An Architecture for Monitoring Elderly Using Digital Image Processing and Artificial IntelligencePublication . Cunha, Carlos R.; Moreira, André; Fernandes, Joana M.S.R.The world population, on average, has seen its life expectancy increase. This phenomenon is causing the elderly population to grow. This reality has put pressure on the development of solutions - across a multidisciplinary spectrum - that are capable of helping the elderly in their daily lives. This assistance is especially important for elderly people who live alone and isolated - a common reality in many rural areas where there is a low population density. This work presents an architecture based on the use of digital image acquisition and processing associated with using Artificial Intelligence. This way, we can create solutions with easy deployment that do not disrupt the elderly’s normal day-to-day life and ensure that third parties accompany them. Even though the proposed architecture can be complemented with sensory aspects linked to the elderly person themselves, this component, as it is independent and easily incorporated, was not the object of study.
- Synergies for cross-border tourism: a collaborative proposal for rural revitalization in Northern Portugal and SpainPublication . Fernandes, Joana; Nogueira, Sónia P.Attracting tourists to rural areas is a complex challenge, often overshadowed by the allure of urban or beach destinations. Limited infrastructure, sparse amenities, and a lack of visibility in the tourism industry contribute to the difficulty in drawing visitors to these less-explored regions. Accessibility issues, stemming from limited transportation options, further deter potential tourists, as rural destinations may be challenging to reach compared to well-connected urban centres. To address these challenges, collaborative efforts are essential. Regional entities must work together to make rural areas more appealing to tourists seeking unique adventures off the beaten path. The visibility of rural destinations also requires collaborative promotional campaigns that leverage digital platforms and social media to reshape perceptions about rural travel. This study introduces a project aiming to develop an online platform supporting the structuring of tourist products in the cross-border areas of Northern Portugal and Castile and León in Spain. Focusing on nature tourism, wine and gastronomy, cultural and landscape tours, and active tourism, the project addresses common challenges such as aging populations, depopulation, and limited digital connectivity in both regions. By fostering collaboration and offering a structured approach to sustainable and ecological tourism, the project aims to enhance visitor attraction and promote synergies between the resources of both regions. The proposed online platform will provide comprehensive tourist information about the cross-border areas, facilitating the commercialization of tourist resources in a structured manner. Whether suggesting frequenting independent travellers or collaborating with tour operators and inbound travel agencies, the goal is to stimulate tourist attraction, prolong their stay in the region, and boost the economy of these cross-border areas.
- Tourwise Project: The Potential of Incentive Strategies on Tourists’ Space–Time Behaviour in Urban DestinationsPublication . Martins, Márcio Ribeiro; Costa, Rui Augusto da; Correia, Ricardo; Costa, Adriano;Urban tourism has been growing in such a way that it has contributed to increased tourist pressure in some areas—a consequence of the high concentration of visitors in time and space. Since mobility is fundamental to tourism and the knowl-edge of how tourists consume and experience an urban destination is very important for its sustainable management, it is relevant to develop strategies to disperse visitors from places with high concentration to other places without a high concentration. The aim of this article is to understand the impact of incentives on the spatiotem-poral behaviour of visitors, which refers to how tourists move and spend their time in a destination in a historic city classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and disseminate an innovative research project and discuss its operationalisation and expected results based on the literature review already conducted. Framed in a research model, this project could contribute important to Destination Manage-ment Organisations (DMOs). The use of incentives could help in the more efficient management of tourist flows in more congested areas, contributing to an improve-ment in the quality of life of residents and an improvement in the quality of the visiting experience for tourists.
- The interdependence of visitors’ information sources and activities performed in protected areas: a perspective from Portugal and CroatiaPublication . Martins, Márcio Ribeiro; Esteves, Salete; Radovic, Tihana Cegur;This research aims to analyse the relationship between the sources of infor-mation used before and during the visit, visitors’ sociodemographic characteristics, and the number of activities carried out at the destinations. Through a convenience sampling technique, an online and onsite questionnaire was conducted on 408 indi-viduals who visited protected areas within the districts of Vila Real and Bragança, Portugal, and within the Karlovac County region, Croatia, in the last 5 years. Data were analysed using the statistical software Jamovi 2.2.5, an open statistical software employing both univariate and multivariate statistical methods. The results show that younger visitors used more online search engines to search for information about nature destinations. There is also a significant positive relationship between visitors who use online search engines before and during the visit to protected areas and the number of activities they do. The contribution of this paper is a refined understanding of nature-based visitors in the north-east of Portugal and in the continental part of Croatia, regions with an extraordinary potential for nature tourism. Practitioners and academics can use the results to attract and retain different market segments in these protected areas.
- Digital Marketing as a Tool to Promote Rural Tourism Ventures: The Case of Casa da LagoaPublication . Ribeiro, Mafalda; Esteves, Elsa Tavares; Morais, Elisabete PauloRural Tourism emerges as a unique tourism product, capable of attracting the attention of tourists to rural areas whose tourist potential is considerable, but which is sometimes not well used. For this reason, companies operating in rural tourism must adopt specific measures to be able to promote their product/service, and the tourist destination itself, being able to use the various digital marketing tools for the same purpose. In this sense, the main objective of this paper is to analyse the presence of Casa da Lagoa, Portugal, in the different social media, through an exploratory analysis of its website and a quantitative analysis of the other social media used by the company
- Misalignment in consumption practices in hiking tourism: A qualitative study in Northern PortugalPublication . Quintão, Ronan; Lopes, Luisa; Santos, Lara; Esteves, SaleteThis study addresses a theoretical gap by investigating the impact of the misalignment in non-food consumption practices, such as preparation, planning, and execution of hiking tourism activities, an area that has been underexplored in existing literature, which primarily focuses on food practices. To extend this literature, the present research aims to understand how the misalignment of these practices affects the consumer experience in hiking tourism. Based on participant observation and ethnographic interviews conducted at a hiking tourism event in northern Portugal, the paper highlights the behavior of regular hiking tourism consumers and its impact on their tourism experience. The main findings indicate that the ineptitude in selecting and using equipment, difficulty in assessing physical effort, and increased physical demand during the activity, due to the misalignment of consumption practices, negatively affect the experience of regular hiking tourism consumers. The study contributes theoretically by expanding the understanding of how misalignments in non-food consumption practices affect hiking tourism. By identifying these misalignments, the study enables consumers and organizations to promote learning and enhance the consumption experience in hiking tourism.
- Backpackers’ Space–time Behaviour in a World Heritage City - PortoPublication . Martins, Márcio Ribeiro; Costa, Rui Augusto da; Chim-Miki, Adriana FumiUrban tourism is one of the most popular forms of tourism, but it remains an understudied phenomenon, particularly in terms of tourists’ spatiotemporal behaviour. The aim of this research is to analyse the spatiotemporal behaviour of the backpacker tourists in an urban destination classified as World Heritage. Data collection was done through a questionnaire survey (n = 292) and a GPS App to track backpacker tourist movements (n = 82) during a visit day to Porto, Portugal. All the thematic cartography was developed with QGIS 3.2.0 software. A map with the movements performed by all backpacker tourists; a map with the intensity of the backpacker movements (passages by area, 50 × 50 m) and a map with the distribution of the total length of stay by area (50 × 50 m), allowed the identification of the main hotspots as well as the non-visited territories in Porto urban area. Relevant contributions for destination managers are presented and discussed.
- Using extended reality and machine learning in digital marketing focusing tourismPublication . Cunha, Carlos R.; Gomes, João Pedro; Mendonça, VítorTechnology has shaped the way in which all economic sectors evolve and reinvent themselves in order to achieve a high level of competitiveness. The tourism sector, being information-intensive and globalizing, at a time when never before have so many people traveled to so many destinations, needs to be competitive in the way it promotes destinations and assists visitors, providing useful and effective information. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to innovate in the way visitors are reached before they decide to choose one destination, as well as understand the aspirations of visitors throughout the entire visiting process—before, during, and after the visit. This reality has made the tourism ecosystem more complex and more dependent on the use of technology which, today and in the future, does not only focus in the support of operational management issues, but increasingly requires the use of technology for anticipate visitors’ aspirations and innovation in information and service delivery mechanisms. In this context, Extended Reality and Machine Learning are two emerging technologies with an enormous potential. This paper, after an introduction, reviews the Extended Reality and Machine Learning technologies and presents a conceptual model that aims to combine both, so that the tourism sector can better understand in advance the needs and visitors’ aspirations and can distribute information and services in an immersive and contextualized way, improving digital marketing strategies. Finally, some scenarios for using the conceptual model are presented and ongoing work is outlined.
- The role of european funding in the development of rural tourismPublication . Nogueira, Sónia P.; Fernandes, Joana; Pires, LuísThe development of rural regions and the promotion of tourism within these areas are crucial for fostering economic growth, preserving cultural heritage, and ensuring social inclusivity. Governments, particularly in Europe, play a vital supporting role through funding and strategic initiatives. This paper highlights the importance of European funding in driving the development of rural regions and enhancing their tourism potential, through the project “Creation of business coop- eration networks in rural cross-border regions between companies in the gourmet agri-food and tourism sectors”, with the Portuguese acronym CRECEER. Within this project, it was possible to involve 20 enterprises, specifically rural accommoda- tion enterprises (RAE) and manufacturing endogenous products’ enterprises, from cross-border regions of northern Portugal. It was understandable that the develop- ment of rural regions and the promotion of tourism within these areas are essential for sustainable economic growth, cultural preservation, and social inclusivity. It was also found that European funding is pivotal in providing the necessary resources and support to overcome infrastructure and marketing challenges, foster regional devel- opment, and empower local communities. By investing in rural regions, governments and the European Union play a crucial role in harnessing the immense potential of these areas, thereby ensuring a more balanced and prosperous society.