Team

Coordination

  • Manuela Guerreiro, CinTurs e FEUAlg (Coordenadora)
  • Patrícia Pinto, CinTurs e FEUAlg (Co-coordenadora)

Research Fellows

  • Ana Carolina Bender, CinTurs e FEUAlg
  • Fátima Lampreia Carvalho, CinTurs
  • Rafaela Martins | CinTurs e FEUAlg

Graphical design

  • Ana Carolina Bender | CinTurs & FEUAlg
  • Rafaela Martins | CinTurs e FEUAlg
  • Vlad Shvedchikov

Interviewers

  • Alberto Chamarelli
  • Ana Bender
  • Ana Portada
  • Diogo Nader
  • Joana Pereira
  • Letícia Quinonez
  • Paulo Correia
  • Rafaela Martins | CinTurs e FEUAlg
  • Tiago Gago

Researchers

  • Bernardete Sequeira, CICS NOVA e FEUAlg
  • Célia Ramos, CinTurs e ESGHT
  • Dora Agapito, CinTurs e FEUAlg
  • Luís Nobre Pereira, CinTurs e ESGHT
  • Magda Wikesjö, CinTurs e FEUalg
  • Nelson Matos, CinTurs e ESGHT

Junior Research Fellows

  • Armita Serajahedi | CinTurs
  • Fatemeh Bagheri | CinTurs
  • Homayoun Golestaneh | CinTurs

Research Internship

  • Clara Silva | FEUAlg
  • Isis Macedo | FEUAlg
  • Meghan Beevor | FEUAlg
  • Vitória Barreto | FEUAlg
 

Sponsors

 
 

Contacts

  • Address: Universidade do Algarve, Faculty of Economics Building 9, Campus de Gambelas. 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
 
  • Phones:
    • +351 289 244 406
    • +351 289 800 900 (ext. 7773 ou 7161)
  • E-mail: cinturs@ualg.pt | cintursinfo@ualg.pt
 

Research Design

The important thing is to never stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
Albert Einstein
 

Conceptual framework

 

The current literature conducted led to the development of the initial conceptual framework that is guiding this investigation in the scope of TurExperience, by conceptualizing the experiential image of the destination.

 

Source: Own Elaboration

 
 

Methodology

To offer a comprehensive approach about the phenomenon, a mixed methods approach is adopted, and a nine-step empirical methodology is designed:

Source: Own Elaboration

 
Survey within tourists

The empirical study, was based on a survey in which the main variables under research, were applied using a questionnaire, following an extensive literature review.  The literature review allowed to identify the state of the art about the main variables (tourism experience and destination image), and permitted to find the scales, dimensions, and sub-dimensions. The scales were adapted to the study and region, and afterwards was validated by two panels of academics and local stakeholders.
A stratified estimated sample of 2.729 tourists is being surveyed considering the touristic seasons and the most representative segments of tourists visiting the Algarve by nationality (Portuguese, British, French, German, Spanish, Irish, Dutch and others). This global sample size assures a margin of error lower or equal to 2% with a 95% confidence level. Data collection is carried out through the application of questionnaires to tourists, using a systematic method and the personal interview. This process is conducted by interviewers recruited by the project team, who were properly supervised and trained. During the touristic high season, between July 15th and September 15th, 2021, 1909 questionnaires were collected at the Faro International Airport, on the departure area and other traditional touristic spots in the region (to include Portuguese and Spanish tourists).A sample of 800 tourists were interviewed during the low season (between October 2021 and June 2022). The data was analysed using statistical software – Statistical Package for Social Sciences 25.

 
Interviews within Tourists

The tourists’ storytelling about their experiences in the Algarve is collected through the interview technique. The purposive sample is elected, and the chosen criteria are the respondents’ nationality, gender and age. The interviews took place during the 2 seasons (high and low season). 27 interviews in the high season were carried out to create a sample with a balanced dimension that ensures the saturation and redundancy of the data and, therefore, an in-depth analysis of the cases. 13 interviews took place during the low season.

Tourists Generated Content

The tourists’ storytelling about their holiday experiences are studied through content shared on social media, namely Facebook and Instagram – Tourist Generated Content (TGC). Data is collected, registered, and analysed using the Content Analysis techniques, including sentiment analysis.

 

Project Results

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Gandhi
 

Final results

 

By issuing country

Germany

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Netherlands

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Ireland

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France

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United Kingdom

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Spain

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Portugal

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Others

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Publications

Actually, the best gift you could have given her was a lifetime of adventures.
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
 

Conferences

Bender, A., Pinto, P., Guerreiro, M. & Agapito, D. (2022) Experiential marketing and its relationship with memory and behavioral intentions: An empirical study at a Sea and Sun destination under Covid-19 pressure. International Conference on Tourism and Business ICTB, Lucerne, 24-27 August 2022.

Bender, A. C., Lança, M., Guerreiro, M. M., Pinto, P. (2022) Módulos Experienciais, Memória e Intenções Comportamentais: A Perspectiva dos Turistas no Algarve, Portugal, in Anais da XIX Seminário ANPTUR, 28 a 30 de setembro, Recife, Brasil.

Guerreiro, M., Pinto, P., Sequeira, B., Matos, M., Agapito, D., Martins, R., Ramos, C., Pereira, L. & Wikesjö, M. (2022) The experiential image of the tourism destination: a qualitative approach with tourists in the Algarve. TMS Algarve 2022, Olhão, 16-19 November.

Guerreiro, M., Pinto, P., Matos, N., Pereira, L., Sequeira, B., Agapito, D. (2023) Destination experiential image. An exploratory contribution towards the development of a reliable and valid measurement scale. International Marketing Trends Conference 2023, Paris, 19-21 January.

Guerreiro, M., Pinto, P., Ramos, C., Martins, R., Golestaneh, H., Wikesjo, M. (2023) The online destination image as portrayed by the UGC on social media and its impact on tourists’ engagement: insights from Algarve, Portugal. International Marketing Trends Conference 2023, Paris, 19-21 January.

Martins, R., Sequeira, B. & Guerreiro, M. (2022) Exploring emotions in tourists’ experiences based on cognitive appraisal theory. Insights from Algarve, Portugal. TMS Algarve 2022, Olhão, 16-19 November.

Piedade, D., Guerreiro, M. (2022) The tourists’ experience and behavioural intentions in reopened tourism destinations: exploring effects of real-time emotions. International Conference on Tourism and Business ICTB, Lucerne, 24-27 August 2022.

Piedade, D., Pinto, P. & Guerreiro, M. (2022) The Customer Experience at the Destination and Behavioural Intentions: Exploring the Role of Tourists’ Emotions. TMS Algarve 2022, Olhão, 16-19 November.

Bender, A. C.; Guerreiro, M. & Pinto, P. (2021) Experiential modules, memory and behavioural intentions: The perspective of visitors to the Algarve.
InvTur Conference 2021, May 6th, Aveiro.

 

Scientific publications

Pinto, P. & Guerreiro, M. (Eds.), (2020). Handbook of Research on Resident and Tourist Perspectives on Travel Destinations. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
ISBN13: 9781799831563|ISBN10: 1799831566|EISBN13: 9781799831570.
https://www.igi-global.com/book/handbook-research-resident-tourist-perspectives/240260

Carvalho, S. L., Sequeira, B., Wikesjö, M. & Ramos, C. R. Q. (2020). The Unfolding Theories on Destination Image, 1990-2020: A Content Analysis Approach. In Pinto, P. & Guerreiro, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Resident and Tourist Perspectives on Travel Destinations. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 313-338.

 
 

Dissertations

 
  • The destination image is a topic that, since the 1970s, began to arouse the interest of the scientific community. Despite the differences in the literature regarding what are components of the destination image, there is a broad consensus about the destination image being a three-dimensional construct. The digital medium has definitely changed this process, the image is now co-created by tourists, due to the ease and extent with which activities such as word-of-mouth are carried out. Thus, new strategies and techniques to explore and analyze the concept of destination image in the digital environment have emerged in the last two decades, due to the emergence of social networks. The study focused on the understanding of the destination image in the case of the Algarve from the international tourists’ perspective present on the Internet. The theoretical knowledge of the concept of tourist destination image was applied together with natural language processing techniques, integrating a sentiment analysis with user-generated content. The sentiment expressed by tourists is mostly positive in relation to the Algarve. The positive factors outweigh the negatives, however, there are situations where the quality of tourism in the Algarve can be improved.

    Author: Pedro Morais | Supervisors: Nelson Matos & Célia Ramos | Master in Marketing Management, Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve

  • Abstract

    Destination Image is a concept that has been studied for a long time in tourism research. The question of how a destination is perceived by tourists and potential new guests is an important insight, especially for local tourism managers, in order to evaluate the implemented strategies and to plan further tactics. The aim of the present study was to systematically capture the approach to analyze the online Destination Image through User Generated Content using studies from the last ten years. Therefore, a Systematic Literature Review on primary research from academic databases was conducted. As a summary of the findings, a conceptual model was developed, based on the insights of the studies in the dataset, to contribute a guidance for the preparation phase of future online Destination Image research. In short, the main findings are: TripAdvisor.com is the main source for online Destination Image analysis. Researchers recommend using the help of software and programming languages to collect and analyzed the data. Equally to earlier Destination Image studies, the main methods applied in online Destination Image analysis are quantitative content analysis, qualitative content analysis and sentiment analysis. In combination with the examination of cognitive and affective factors, co-occurrence analysis, and correlation analysis.

    Author: Valerie Stopp | Supervisors: Célia Ramos & Nelson Matos | Master in Management, Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve

  • Abstract

    Existing literature on emotions in the tourism and marketing fields focuses on assessing how to identify, understand and design methods to measure and define emotions within the post-consumption experience. Recent tourism studies have understood the importance of emotions in designing better touristic experiences. They have succeeded in identifying ways to discriminate the best methods to measure emotions in broader senses but failing to identify specific and discrete emotions and their existent reasons while directly involving the individual to understand the underlying emotional reasons within Tourism Destinations. In order to fulfill these gaps, this study employs the S-O-R paradigm to comprehend tourists’ emotions on a tourism experience context. In doing so, this research aims, specifically, to: (1) Identify which emotions are spontaneous elicited by tourists regarding their own experience at a destination level; (2) Identify the drivers and its behavioral associated with the elicited emotions, and (3) explore the linkages between the drivers and the elicited emotions, and their behavioral outcomes, namely willingness to recommend. Sectioned into two touristic seasons (high and low), a sample of tourists was interviewed within the project TurExperience (SAICT-ALG/39588/2018). Grounded on Richins (1997) and del Bosque  and San Martín (2008), 16 emotional states were regressed alongside their drivers and behavioral outcomes. Adopting a qualitative approach, by using semi-structured interviews within tourists visiting the Algarve, an illustrious and reputable destination in the south of Portugal, findings suggest that emotional states vary under the influence of certain circumstances, namely when people experience emotional states like Happiness, tranquillity, calmness, sadness, discomfort, saudade or even nostalgia. These outcomes have huge practical implications on the experience design, destination marketing, positioning, and branding. As well for theoretical implications providing further understanding on emotions spontaneous elicitation and underlying emotional reasons in the context of a tourism destination.

    Author: Rafaela Martins | Supervisors: Manuela Guerreiro & Bernardete Sequeira| Master in Marketing Management, Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve

  • Abstract

    Research on customer experience and its underlying causes and effects towards tourism development have been the focus of many researchers in the last decades. An ever-growing interest in understanding how to better the touristic offering of destinations and how to increase customer experience levels has motivated business entrepreneurs and marketing practitioners alike to better understand how to create added value to their regions in order to obtain sustainable growth and acquire competitive advantage. 

    A challenge that has led researchers to explore the effects of customer experience in other domains during various stages of the tourist stay, including the post-visit stage. Ultimately, a better understanding on the behavioural intentions generated after the visit was the primary goal behind this reasoning. The emotions generated from that visit also play an important role in determining how a tourist contemplates upon their stay, and eventually decides to not only revisit the destination on a future occasion, but also share their experience with friends, family and acquaintances. 

    The primary goal of this study was to address whether customer experience had a positive effect on loyalty, and on positive and negative emotions. Afterwards, we aimed to determine whether these positive and negative emotions themselves had an effect on loyalty of tourists. The main methodology to understand these correlations was to create a conceptual model to understand the correlations between four latent variables: touristic experience, positive emotions, negative emotions, and destination loyalty. The model was tested through data retrieved from tourists by questionnaire immediately post-experience in the Algarve. This data retrieved under the Tur Experience project, between the 15th of July and the 15th of September 2020. This data was then analysed under descriptive statistics and utilized afterwards to validate the relationships between constructs proposed in the conceptual model.

    All hypotheses were supported and validated, which revealed that this customer´s experience effectively has a positive effect in their loyalty at the destination, the Algarve. These results also show that positive and negative emotions act as strong influential factors in determining tourist loyalty.

    These findings indicate the importance to consider not only customer experience as a valuable tool in creating customer experiences at the tourism level, but also allude to the role of emotions in creating said experiences, namely the importance of introducing positive emotional stimuli in the experiences as to make them memorable, leading to an intention of sharing these experiences and returning to the destination.

    Author: David Piedade | Supervisors: Manuela Guerreiro & Patrícia Pinto  | Master in Marketing Management, Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve

  • Abstract

    This research approaches the British market that visits the Algarve region. In specific, this research aimed to characterize the British market regarding the following dimensions: socio-demographic profile, description of the visit, fulfilment with the tourist experience and destination loyalty. In order to withstand those main aims, this study used data from the project SAICT-ALG/39588/2018 (TurExperience – Tourist experiences’ impacts on the destination images). For the data collection, a questionnaire survey was applied. A total of 465 British tourists were surveyed. Data were collected during the high season of the tourism activity of 2021, between July and September. Results indicate that British tourists are satisfied with the region and pretend to return a day later. These results can assist tourism companies and public decision-makers in identifying actions and policies that can foster the tourism sector regarding this important market.

    Author: Telma Café | Supervisors: Manuela Guerreiro & Patrícia Pinto  | Master in Marketing Management, Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve

Press

Apresentação dos resultados dos projetos RESTUR e TurExperience

Source: Região de Turismo do Algarve

Apresentação dos resultados dos projetos RESTUR e TurExperience

Source: Universidade do Algarve

Projetos RESTUR e TurExperience apresentados na RTA

Source: A Voz do @lgarve

Turismo do Algarve apresenta resultado dos projetos Restur e Turexperience

Source: Barlavento

Algarve (ainda) não é visto como destino eco-friendly pelos turistas

Source: Barlavento

 

Algarve

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
Louis Armstrong
 

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Europe’s most famous secret
We are sure you have already heard about it. Perhaps a friend told you about its magnificent beaches. Maybe you saw a report about its typically Mediterranean cuisine. Or it could be that you simply came across a text like this one, which highlights the history, culture and friendliness of those who are used to giving visitors the warmest of welcomes.

Algarve Tips Website

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Europe’s most famous secret
We are sure you have already heard about it. Perhaps a friend told you about its magnificent beaches. Maybe you saw a report about its typically Mediterranean cuisine. Or it could be that you simply came across a text like this one, which highlights the history, culture and friendliness of those who are used to giving visitors the warmest of welcomes.

Algarve 360 Videos

Algarve, Europe´s most famous secret

Europe’s most famous secret
We are sure you have already heard about it. Perhaps a friend told you about its magnificent beaches. Maybe you saw a report about its typically Mediterranean cuisine. Or it could be that you simply came across a text like this one, which highlights the history, culture and friendliness of those who are used to giving visitors the warmest of welcomes.

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