Abstract
Over the last decades, the tourism sector has seen progressive exponential growth, which has consolidated its position in the world as one of the most important economic activities. The main information sources should be privileged, as they will be an essential bridge of contact, gathering information and clarifying contacts between the destination and potential demand, but also for tourists already at the destination. The main objective of this study is to understand which feedback channels exist in a back-office environment, in the “Hospitality and commercialization” department of the Porto Tourism Association, A.R. - Porto Convention & Visitors Bureau. In addition, it will also be objective to understand how demand behaves through each input channel. In order to meet the objectives of this study, two possible analyses were created - one concerning the back-office sales in 2018, and the other related to requests for information via Live Chat tool, between November 2018 and March 2019. 338 contacts were verified which resulted through back-office sales (from 11 feedback channels) and 4196 conversations started in the live tool existing on the Visit Porto and Visit Porto and North websites. The data collected confirm that tourists prioritize three main feedback channels - Chat, Email - visitportoandnorth and Telephone. Chat and Telephone channels are mainly used by families and groups of friends, who search for cruises, prefer short stays and book shortly in advance, in the same month of the visit or just the previous month. On the other hand, the email - visitportoandnorth channel, mainly prioritized for more professional and business visits, is used by travel agencies (TA)/tour operators (TO), valuing the advance and investing in organized and tailored circuits concerning the destination visit.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Turismo do Porto e Norte de Portugal.: Plano Estratégico Horizonte 2015-2020. Available: http://www.portoenorte.pt/pt/informacao-institucional/plano-estrategico/ (2019).
Associação de Turismo do Porto e Norte.: Visit Porto & North [online]. Available: http://www.visitportoandnorth.travel/ (2013).
Pereira, S. S.: Turismo. Porto e Norte com maior crescimento a nível nacional. Dinheiro Vivo [online]. 14 de Fevereiro. Available: https://www.dinheirovivo.pt/empresas/turismo-porto-e-norte-com-o-maior-crescimento-a-nivel-nacional/ (2019).
United Nations World Tourism Organization.: Market Intelligence and Competitiveness – conceptual framework [online]. UNWTO: Madrid. Disponível em http://marketintelligence.unwto.org/content/conceptual-framework-0 (2019).
Associação de Turismo do Porto e Norte.: About the Associação de Turismo do Porto [online]. Available: http://www.visitportoandnorth.travel/ATP/Sobre-a-Associacao-de-Turismo-do-Porto (2019).
United Nations World Tourism Organization.: World Tourism Day – Tourism in the Digital Era. UNWTO: Madrid. Available: http://wtd.unwto.org/content/wtd-2018-tourism-digital-era (2018).
World Tourism Organization Affiliate Members.: Technology in Tourism. AM Reports, 1. (2011).
No, E. & Kim, J. K.: Comparing the attributes of online tourism information sources. Computers in Human Behavior, 50, 564-575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.063 (2015).
Ramos, C., Rodrigues, P. & Perna, F.: Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação no Sector Turístico. Revista Turismo e Desenvolvimento, 12, 21-32. (2009).
Gohr, C. F., Santos, L. C. & Veiga, M. F.: A informação como um elemento chave para a qualidade do produto turístico: uma análise dos postos de informações turística do município de Florianóspolis/SC. Perspectivas em Ciência da Informação, 14 (2), 169-186. (2009).
Schweda, A. & Varan, D.: Independent International Traveller Evaluations of Traditional and Interactive Holiday Information Sources Along Temporal and Utility Dimensions. In Frew, A.J. (ed.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2004, Vienna: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-0594-8_15. (2004).
Hwang, Y., Jani, D. & Jeong, H. K.: Analyzing international tourists’ functional information needs: A comparative analysis of inquiries in an on-line travel forum. Journal of Business Research, 66 (6), 700-705. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.09.006. (2013).
Fesenmaier, D. R. & Jeng, J.: Assessing Structure in the Pleasure Trip Planning Process. Tourism Analysis, 5 (1), 13-27. (2000).
Singha, S. & Swait, J.: Channels for search and purchase: Does mobile Internet matter? Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 39, 123-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.05.014 (2017).
Chloe, Y., Kim, J. & Fesenmaier, D. R.: Use of social media across the trip experience: An application of latent transition analysis. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34 (4), 431-443. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2016.1182459. (2017).
Liberato, P., Alén-González, E. & Liberato, D.: Digital Technology in a Smart Tourist Destination: The Case of Porto. Journal of Urban Technology, 25 (1), 76-97. https://doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2017.1413228. (2018).
United Nations World Tourism Organization.: 1st UNWTO World Conference on Smart Destinations. UNWTO: Madrid. Available: http://cf.cdn.unwto.org/sites/all/files/docpdf/outcomedocument1stunwtoworldconferenceonsmartdestinationfinal.pdf (2017).
United Nations World Tourism Organization.: 3rd UNWTO/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture: for the Benefit of All. UNWTO: Madrid. Disponível em: http://ethics.unwto.org/event/3rd-unwtounesco-world-conference-tourism-and-culture-benefits-all (2018).
World Committee on Tourism Ethics.: Recommendations on the Responsible Use of Ratings and Reviews on Digital Platforms [online]. Disponível em: http://cf.cdn.unwto.org/sites/all/files/docpdf/wcterecommendationsratingsandreviewsenweb.pdf (2017).
International Trade Centre & World Tourism Organization.: Tourism and Trade: a global agenda for sustainable development. Available: http://www.intracen.org/uploadedFiles/intracenorg/Content/Publications/Tourism_and_Trade__low%20res_2014-2015-335.pdf (2015).
Jeng, J. and Fesenmaier, D.R.: Conceptualizing the travel decision-making hierarchy: a review of recent developments, Tourism Analysis, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 15-32 (2002).
Gursoy, D. and McCleary, K.W.: An integrative model of tourists’ information search behavior, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 353-373 (2004).
Barta, R., Feilmayr, C., Pröll, B., Grün, C. and Werthner, H.: Covering the semantic space of tourism – an approach based on modularized ontologies. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Context, Information and Ontologies Heraklion, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, New York, NY (2009).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Liberato, D., Carvalho, B., Liberato, P. (2020). The Feedback Channels in a DMO: Case Study in Porto and North Tourism Association. In: Rocha, Á., Abreu, A., de Carvalho, J., Liberato, D., González, E., Liberato, P. (eds) Advances in Tourism, Technology and Smart Systems. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 171. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2024-2_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2024-2_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-2023-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-2024-2
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)