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