Author(s): Liberato, Dália ; Carvalho, Bárbara ; Liberato, Pedro
Date: 2020
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/15174
Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
Subject(s): Tourism; Communication; Feedback channels; Non-presential attendance
Over the last decades, the tourism sector has seen progressive exponential growth, which has consolidated its position in the world as one of the most important economic activities. The main information sources should be privileged, as they will be an essential bridge of contact, gathering information and clarifying contacts between the destination and potential demand, but also for tourists already at the destination. The main objective of this study is to understand which feedback channels exist in a back-office environment, in the “Hospitality and commercialization” department of the Porto Tourism Association, A.R. - Porto Convention & Visitors Bureau. In addition, it will also be objective to understand how demand behaves through each input channel. In order to meet the objectives of this study, two possible analyses were created - one concerning the back-office sales in 2018, and the other related to requests for information via Live Chat tool, between November 2018 and March 2019. 338 contacts were verified which resulted through back-office sales (from 11 feedback channels) and 4196 conversations started in the live tool existing on the Visit Porto and Visit Porto and North websites. The data collected confirm that tourists prioritize three main feedback channels - Chat, Email - visitportoandnorth and Telephone. Chat and Telephone channels are mainly used by families and groups of friends, who search for cruises, prefer short stays and book shortly in advance, in the same month of the visit or just the previous month. On the other hand, the email - visitportoandnorth channel, mainly prioritized for more professional and business visits, is used by travel agencies (TA)/tour operators (TO), valuing the advance and investing in organized and tailored circuits concerning the destination visit.
