«Cultural tourism is one of the leading growing
segments of the tourism industry. Many tourists who visit heritage sites seek a
value-added and authentic experience, when compared with the traditional
products or mass destinations. Considering the importance of tourist`s
satisfaction in what regards the revisit intentions and word-of-mouth
referrals, which in turn influence the economic development of the tourist
destination, this study attempts to investigate the relationship between
cultural/heritage destination attributes and tourist`s satisfaction. The study
area for this paper is the city of Guimarães, in the northwest of Portugal.
This city is a place of strong symbolic and cultural significance and was
deemed a world heritage site (UNESCO) in the year 2001. In 2012, Guimarães was
one of the cities that hosted the European Capital of Culture (ECOC). All this
enhanced its tourism potential and increased the amounts of visitors. The
methodology consists of quantitative research based on a self-administered
survey applied to tourists who visited Guimarães in the first half of 2015. Based
upon the empirical results of this study, several recommendations can be made
to increase tourists’ satisfaction vis-à-vis to Guimarães, regarding tourists’
needs, attributes valorization and cultural/heritage sustainability.»
Laurentina Vareiro, Management School, Polytechnic
Institute of Cávado and Ave and UNIAG, Barcelos, Portugal, lvareiro@ipca.pt
J. Cadima Ribeiro, Economics and Management School and
NIPE, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, jcadima@eeg.uminho.pt
Paula
Remoaldo, Department
of Geography and Lab2pt, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal,
cris.remoaldo@gmail.com
(resumo de comunicação apresentada na XLI Conference on Regional Studies - AECR,
subordinada genericamente ao tema Innovation and Geographical Spillovers:
New Appproaches and Evidence, que decorreu na Facultad de Economia y
Empresa da Universitat Rovira i Virgili, em Réus, Espanha, entre 18 e 20 de novembro
de 2015; 18 págs.)
