Periódico: Tourism and Hospitality International Journal
Fonte: Tourism and Hospitality International Journal ; Vol. 9 No. 1 (2017): September 2017 [17th Edition]; 127-143
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Resumo: Tourism is a sector whose development creates impacts on the welcoming communities, either in a positive sense, provoking changes that improve their quality of life, or in a negative sense, threatening the same quality of life. Being so, the residents of the areas with some tourist demand can develop attitudes (either positive or negative) towards tourism, which in turn are directly associated with the impacts it causes in the welcoming areas. Portalegre is a city located in Alto Alentejo already presenting some tourist dynamics and so, it is crucial to understand the attitudes of its inhabitants towards this phenomenon. In this context, a research work was carried out on the perceptions from its residents in relation to tourism within the framework of the Tourism Planning and Development curricular unit of the Social Sciences School, whose methodology and main results are presented in this article. The final conclusions presented in this study are the result of a quantitative analysis of 102 valid questionnaires obtained through direct application in the city of Portalegre. Overall, this research reveals the residents' positive recognition of the environmental, social and economic impacts of tourism.
