Features of Nautical Tourism in Portugal—Projected Destination Image with a Sustainability Marketing Approach

Lucília Cardoso, Eunice Lopes (), Giovana Goretti Feijó de Almeida, Luís Lima Santos, Bruno Sousa, Jorge Simões and Fernando Perna
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Lucília Cardoso: CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal
Eunice Lopes: CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal
Giovana Goretti Feijó de Almeida: CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal
Luís Lima Santos: CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal
Bruno Sousa: CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal
Jorge Simões: TECHN&ART, Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (IPT), Estrada da Serra, 2300-313 Tomar, Portugal
Fernando Perna: CiTUR Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-30

Abstract: Nautical tourism stands out for its potential to achieve social-economic development in coastal and island destinations and as a lever for sustainable tourism. However, the lack of a clear definition of nautical tourism at the international level makes it difficult to characterize it, and the case of Portugal is no exception. In fact, despite the enormous potential of Portuguese nautical tourism, there is a lack of studies that characterize this type of tourism in the Portuguese tourism destination. This paper intends to make a first attempt to fill this gap by assessing the projected destination image of Portuguese nautical tourism with a sustainable marketing approach. In the design of the research, the content analysis methodology was applied. The data were collected from the official websites of the Portuguese legislation and the Portuguese nautical tourism players and analyzed through a theoretical model of sustainable marketing deriving from the literature review. The results provide the sustainable projected destination image of Portuguese nautical tourism and identify the main trends in the legislative framework, tourism activities, networks of players, and support infrastructures for Portuguese nautical tourism. The findings provide practical and useful insights for Portuguese nautical tourism stakeholders aiming to improve a sustainable projected destination image, as well as for researchers identifying research gaps in the nautical tourism topics. This study also provides a new methodological contribution, proposing a theoretical model of the projected destination image of nautical tourism with an approach to sustainable marketing, which can be applied to other nautical tourism destinations.

Keywords: Portugal nautical tourism; projected destination image; sustainability marketing; nautical tourism sustainable model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8805-:d:1159322

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