The expenditure behaviour during the trip and the impact of the intangible and tangible factors: the case of the city of Porto

Abstract

In order to evaluate the expenditure of tourists during their trip and the impact of intangible and tangible factors, we used a survey performed to the national and international tourists and applied a factorial analysis and a Tobit regression. In addition to the variables that are usually used to explain the tourist expenses, we innovate by including the perception of the socially responsible city as one of the intangible traits of consumer. One of the main findings was that the tourism expenditure is positively explained by socio-demographics characteristics (age, marital status, schooling, work conditions and nationality), experiences on a trip, the perception of a socially responsible city, the importance of the heritage wealth, visiting the city in general and the intention to return. This kind of information will allow a better segmentation of tourists and an improved adaptation of the tourist product. This study do not only describe the indicators that contribute to the economic impact of the tourism but also proposes the strategy in associating the city of Porto with a socially responsible brand to support for the equilibrium between profitability and sustainability in the sector.