Joana Lima

Landscape and the rural tourism experience: identifying key elements, addressing potential, and implications for the future

Rural tourism is an important development strategy for some rural areas. Landscape is central to the visitors tourism experience. While the literature suggests that some rural landscape features are likely to attract visitors, research on the impact of landscape on the rural tourism experience is rather limited, and often confined to studies supported by visual stimuli (e.g. photos), ignoring the impact of the direct contact of visitors with the territory. This study overcomes some of these limitations by assessing visitors’ perceptions of the rural landscapes based on two villages in Portugal, while visitors were still in the villages. Vegetation type and colour, and built heritage, emerge as key experience elements for tourists, but they were followed by a complex group of largely non-visual stimuli, including sounds, smells, tastes, people contact, “nature” in its wider sense, and the past. The potential for sustainable tourism development based on this rich array of key elements is addressed, along with the need for action at all levels to bring together tourism and landscape management in an integrated way for marketing, product development and conservation purposes. Differences among groups of visitors are noted, suggesting that different groups of visitors require different approaches.

Accessibility as Competitive Advantage of a Tourism Destination: The Case of Lousã

Tourism destinations are facing intense and increasing competition worldwide, while consumers are ever more demanding, requiring not only service quality but also socially responsible and sustainable destinations. In this context, developing accessible tourism at a destination may help gain competitiveness in an underserved, typically most loyal market. Developing accessible tourism may also create a culture of social responsibility. This would enhance a shared, human and involving vision of the destination amongst stakeholders, including tourists who increasingly value socially responsible positions of economic actors in the tourism industry. The development of this approach is shown for Lousa, a small tourism destination focusing on accessible tourism as a core of its development strategy, a strategy developed through a stakeholder participatory approach. In this chapter, we present a study that helped develop the strategic positioning of Lousa, combining qualitative and quantitative methods and integrating visions of several relevant stakeholders.

Determinants of leisure expenditure: Do low income families behave any differently from others?

Abstract Tourism is not accessible to all individuals and households. Low income specifically constrains participation in tourism and affects households’ level of Leisure and Tourism Expenditure (LTE). This study uses micro-data available regarding 9489 Portuguese households, deepening the understanding of the Portuguese reality concerning the households’ LTE, its determinants, and how these differ according to the households’ income level. Studies analysing leisure and tourism in low income families are scarce. Low income families have significantly lower LTE and important differences in the determinants of LTE arise between the groups of families. This deeper knowledge about the households’ LTE can form the basis for actions aiming to reduce constraints and encourage leisure and tourism, maximizing the benefits low income families can obtain from that participation.

Impacts of Family Tourism on Families’ Quality of Life – Differences According to the Family Economic Profile

Tourism plays a significant role in our lives and is increasingly becoming associated with Quality of Life (QOL). Tourism offers opportunities to explore new environments, participate in new activities and to meet people as well as relax. While the effects of tourism on the QOL of individuals are nowadays recognized, the effects of family tourism upon families’ QOL are relatively blurred. This neglect is more worrying insofar as it is known that family tourism represents a significant share in the tourism market globally. This study aims to overcome this gap by analysing the effects of family tourism on some dimensions of families’ QOL, using survey data collected from a sample of Portuguese families (N = 825). Moreover, we explore whether the impacts of family tourism on families’ QOL vary across the economic profile of families. This study is of utmost relevance given that families with low income represent a significant share of the Portuguese population nowadays. The results reveal significant effects of family tourism on family cohesion and on the improvement of families’ QOL. The effects differ between families, with families with scarce economic resources being those that feel the effects with greater intensity. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the implications of the results for the design of family tourism experiences and also identifying paths for future research.

Avifauna conservation and disturbance ecology in a coastal freshwater lagoon

This work was developed in Barrinha de Mira Coastal Lagoon, Portugal. The lagoon belongs to the Natura 2000 network. Its main objectives were to monitor aquatic bird species before, during, and after a desorption intervention on this lagoon. Monitoring of waterfowl was carried out to evaluate the monthly variation of birds in Barrinha, in order to obtain useful information for region’s management and planning, as well as for species preservation. In experimental design, it was decided to perform four counts per month in each pond (weekly), to evaluate the effect of increased monitoring effort in relation to previous years. The results revealed that the study area has a significant importance as a wintering zone for water birds. Some species have stable resident populations which, seasonally, see their numbers vary with migratory birds arrival and departure. Another purpose was to verify the influence of desorption intervention on the usual number of individuals by species. The results show that during and after intervention, there was a reduction of birds in the order of 89%, being more visible in the populations of Anas platyrhynchos and Fulica atra.