Destination certification on sustainable tourism : the managers perspective

• Autor(a) principal: Neves, Diogo Pinto Teixeira
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/38749
• topic: Sustainability; Sustainable tourism; Destination certification; GSTC criteria; Destination management; Tourism industry; Sustentabilidade; Turismo sustentável; Certificação de destinos; Critérios do GSTC; Gestão de destinos; Indústria do turismo; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

The world is changing rapidly and sustainability is being one of the main drivers of change. The tourism industry is no exception and its players are also modifying their patterns and behaviours in order to become more sustainable. The certification of whole destinations as sustainable tourism destinations is a relatively new process which goes beyond the current practice of certifying individual tourism businesses. There are a relatively small number of certified destinations worldwide. As this phenomenon is on an early stage, there is an opportunity for studying pre and post destination certification experience for the destination and visitors. This research will focus on the destination experience and its aim is to investigate the perspective of destination managers on these certification programs. Its objectives include collecting information on the reason(s) why destination managers decided to apply for a certification program and which were their initial expectations; investigating the consequences of joining such program; and understanding destinations managers’ perception on the future of their participation in the certification program. It was important to proceed with a literature review to gather information on topics related to this subject in order to better understand what was already being written, enabling for an understanding of research gaps that led to the chosen research objectives. To achieve the desired results, the chosen methodology to carry out this research was to conduct interviews to different destination managers whose destinations are participating in a certification program. The main findings show several different reasons for destinations deciding to join as well as distinct initial expectations by their managers but they also demonstrate a positive perception towards certification programs and the desire to keep relying on them to improve their results and to continue their sustainability path.