Scientific tourism in the Alentejo region: An exploratory study of the visitors’ profile and motivations at the regional Science Centres

Abstract

Present dissertation focuses on the domain of Scientific Tourism, with particular application to the Centres of Science located in the Alentejo region, Portugal. The choice of this particular topic is based on criteria of affection, closeness and per-sonal motivation. Additionally, the master student is member of a Science Centre, which allows to access to a set of available resources, alluding to its importance and relevance, more precisely to the region of Alentejo and for a considerable di-versity of audiences. To the best of our knowledge focusing on the topic of Scientific Tourism is an in-novative approach. From the point of view of the development of regional tourism supply networks, this type of tourism entails a considerable added value potential for the tourist experience. Moreover, is also an interesting and novelty motivation for the study of tourist behaviour. Thus, the identification of the profile and moti-vations that constitute the market of this type of tourism is critical for the present study. In Alentejo region there are a set of Science Centres, such as Museums, Laborato-ries, Theme Parks, Observatories, among others. These set of equipment are con-sidered cultural resources and suggests the development of a regional scientific tourism supply, which is already a reality and presents an amount of potentialities at various levels such as cultural, environmental, economic, and social. Science is transversal to all areas and can be presented appealing to intense experiences and increasing visitor awareness. The relationship between Science and Tourism is intrinsic and empowered by local resources. To enhance the offer of the regional Science Centres and Museums, there is an urgent need to characterize visitors’ profile with the main purpose of seeking Scientific Tourism activities in the Alentejo region. Thus, the following questions remain without an answer. Who are these individuals? What is your sociodemographic profile? What are your motiva-tions? What are the most important factors and attributes for the practice of Scien-tific Tourism? The general objective of the research is to analyse the visitor profile, who is look-ing for Scientific Tourism activities in the Alentejo region. As the dissertation will focus on the domains of tourist behaviour analysis, it is interesting to underline the importance of an approach to the level of tourism demand trends. One of the strategies that allows us to foresee trends in demand, is supported by regional tourism demand indicators. For this purpose, a first analysis is conducted based on data published by National Statistics Institute of Portugal (INE) concerning the tourism activity in the Alentejo between the period of 2005-2015. Additionally, a number of indicators are used to measure regional tourist demand, namely the number of overnight stays, the occupancy rate, the average stay, seasonality rate, among others.