The development of an innovative approach to improve tourism tours in Portugal

: how to link locals and travelers and how to take advantage of that connection in order to build a new tour service? : viability of the business model

Abstract

The present dissertation research invites thinking about the importance of tourism by being one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world with a forecast of 1.8 billion people travelling in the word by 2030. It focuses on analyzing tourism in general and, particularly, in Portugal. Throughout the years, Portugal has been investing on this sector, leading to an increase of the number of interntional tourists, with Lisbon being one of the European cities with the fourth highest growth rate of international visitors. The Literature Review addresses the definition of tourism, tourism in the World, Europe and in Portugal, tourism in the Millennial generation, online tourism, incentives towards tourism, applying business models to develop tourism and the importance of entrepreneurship. This research was conducted in the context of developing an innovative approach that could improve the tourism tours in Portugal. For this, a survey was conducted in order to have an overview about the market, the customers and the problems associated with the tours that exist nowadays. The results found suggest a new type of tour that links locals with travellers by taking advantage of that connection to create a new tour service that can address all the issues that are, currently, presented in the market. A representation of the Business Model will be described in detail as well as a demonstration of the profit if the service is implemented.

Date of Award	30 Oct 2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Susana Frazão Ferreira Fernandes Pinheiro (Supervisor)