Digital marketing and technology adoption for Douro tourism development
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2020-06-26
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A indústria do turismo sofreu algumas mudanças significativas devido a desenvolvimentos tecnológicos. O comportamento dos turistas está a mudar e está a aumentar o uso da tecnologia no processo de tomada de decisão sobre destinos e produtos turísticos. Por outro lado, os territórios de baixa densidade, como o destino Douro, têm oportunidade de melhorar a sua promoção utilizando esta inovação tecnológica, uma vez que as ferramentas de marketing digital permitem utilizar os mesmos canais de comunicação que os destinos maiores, com mais recursos e notoriedade. A presente tese tem como principal objetivo procurar dar uma pequena contribuição prática para atrair mais turistas ao Douro e, assim, apoiar o desenvolvimento deste destino turístico, através da análise de como a promoção deste destino pode ser melhorada com algumas tecnologias digitais como ferramentas de marketing digital e presença nas redes sociais e Realidade Virtual. Para atingir este objetivo geral, esta tese usou amostras para responder a objetivos específicos: organizações de gestão de destinos (DMOs) que são responsáveis pela sua promoção, incluindo o Douro e outras regiões internacionais similares, para comparar o uso de ferramentas de marketing digital por DMOs para a promoção de destinos; turistas que estavam a visitar o destino Douro para avaliar a influência da utilidade percebida das ferramentas de marketing digital na imagem deste destino; e potenciais turistas pertencentes à geração millennials para avaliar os antecedentes de aceitação da realidade virtual como uma ferramenta de promoção para o destino e a indústria turística do Douro. Na perspetiva organizacional, os dados foram recolhidos nas plataformas oficiais destas organizações e examinados através de uma análise descritiva e de conteúdo. Na perspetiva dos turistas, os dados foram recolhidos pelo método de inquirição e analisados através de métodos estatísticos e modelação de equações estruturais (SEM). Como principais conclusões desta tese, a DMO responsável pela promoção do destino Douro deve melhorar o seu website oficial e as suas páginas das redes sociais, sendo mais ativa nas suas plataformas oficiais, como observado em exemplos de boas práticas de outras regiões semelhantes. Além disso, do ponto de vista do turista, os primeiros resultados indicam a influência de algumas ferramentas de marketing digital, em particular websites, plataformas de reservas e dispositivos móveis, na imagem do destino Douro. Finalmente, a aceitação dos sistemas de Realidade Virtual pela geração millennials para fins turísticos é impulsionada principalmente pelo hábito, influência social e o prazer percebido com o uso desses sistemas.
Tourism industry has undergone some significant changes due to technological developments. Tourists’ behavior has been changing, and is increasing their use of technology in the decision making process about destinations and tourism products. On the other hand, low density territories, as Douro destination, have an opportunity to improve their promotion using this technological innovation, since digital marketing tools allow them to use the same communication channels as bigger destinations with more resources and awareness. The present thesis has as main objective to seek to make a small practical contribution to attract more tourists to Douro and, thus, supporting this tourism destination development, through analyzing how this destination promotion can be improved with some digital technologies as digital marketing tools and social media presence, and Virtual Reality. To achieve this general purpose, this thesis used samples to respond to specific objectives: destinations management organizations responsible for their promotion, including Douro and other similar international regions, to compare DMOs’ use of digital marketing tools for destinations promotion; tourists who were visiting the Douro destination to assess the influence of digital marketing tools perceived usefulness on this destination image; and potential tourists belonging to the millennial generation to evaluate antecedents of virtual reality acceptance as a promotion tool for Douro destination and tourism industry. In the organizational perspective, data were collected on its official platforms and examined through a descriptive and content analysis. In the tourists’ perspective, data were collected by survey method and analyzed through statistics and structural equation modelling (SEM). As main conclusions of this thesis, the DMO responsible for Douro destination promotion should improve its official website and its social networking pages, being more active in its official platforms, as observed in good practices examples of other similar regions. In addition, from tourist point of view, the first survey results indicate the influence of some digital marketing tools, in particular website, booking platforms and mobile devices, in Douro destination image. Finally, the acceptance of Virtual Reality systems by millennials generation for tourism purposes is mainly driven by habit, social influence and perceived enjoyment with the use of those systems.
Tourism industry has undergone some significant changes due to technological developments. Tourists’ behavior has been changing, and is increasing their use of technology in the decision making process about destinations and tourism products. On the other hand, low density territories, as Douro destination, have an opportunity to improve their promotion using this technological innovation, since digital marketing tools allow them to use the same communication channels as bigger destinations with more resources and awareness. The present thesis has as main objective to seek to make a small practical contribution to attract more tourists to Douro and, thus, supporting this tourism destination development, through analyzing how this destination promotion can be improved with some digital technologies as digital marketing tools and social media presence, and Virtual Reality. To achieve this general purpose, this thesis used samples to respond to specific objectives: destinations management organizations responsible for their promotion, including Douro and other similar international regions, to compare DMOs’ use of digital marketing tools for destinations promotion; tourists who were visiting the Douro destination to assess the influence of digital marketing tools perceived usefulness on this destination image; and potential tourists belonging to the millennial generation to evaluate antecedents of virtual reality acceptance as a promotion tool for Douro destination and tourism industry. In the organizational perspective, data were collected on its official platforms and examined through a descriptive and content analysis. In the tourists’ perspective, data were collected by survey method and analyzed through statistics and structural equation modelling (SEM). As main conclusions of this thesis, the DMO responsible for Douro destination promotion should improve its official website and its social networking pages, being more active in its official platforms, as observed in good practices examples of other similar regions. In addition, from tourist point of view, the first survey results indicate the influence of some digital marketing tools, in particular website, booking platforms and mobile devices, in Douro destination image. Finally, the acceptance of Virtual Reality systems by millennials generation for tourism purposes is mainly driven by habit, social influence and perceived enjoyment with the use of those systems.
Descrição
Tese apresentada à Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, como requisito para
a obtenção do grau de Doutor em Desenvolvimento, Sociedades e Territórios
Palavras-chave
Uso ou utilidade percebida das ferramentas de marketing digital , Aceitação de Realidade Virtual