Construction and Empirical Validation of a Tourism Quality Certification Protocol for Urban Beaches (PCTP)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29149/mtr.v10i1.8776Keywords:
urban beaches, certifications, tourism quality index.Abstract
Most certification protocols primarily address environmental aspects and beach management (infrastructure, service maintenance, etc.), yet the criteria relevant to tourism quality are seldom discussed. In Brazil, the only existing beach certification (Blue Flag) is applied to a few beaches and consists of an ecological label that does not allow for the evaluation of other necessary dimensions to assess the tourism quality of these beaches. Thus, this research aims to construct and empirically validate a Tourism Quality Certification Protocol for Urban Beaches (PCTP), considering the creation of specific tourism indicators to contribute to a methodology for monitoring beach quality. The study adopts a quali-quantitative and multimethodological approach and was conducted in four stages: 1) Identification of the Protocol variables through a systematic literature review with the assistance of the Proknow-C method (Ensslin et al., 2010); 2) Implementation of the Delphi technique and a panel with experts in the field; 3) Administration of questionnaires to visitors (tourists and residents) of the studied beaches; 4) Validation of the protocol through the calculation of the beaches' Tourism Quality Index (TQI) and interpretation of the results based on 5 levels of tourism quality. The protocol was comprised of 4 dimensions, 17 subdimensions, and 75 indicators. The PCTP was tested on two beaches in the city of João Pessoa, PB – Brazil. The results indicated that the tourism quality of these two beaches was considered good (level 4), with indices above 0.61. Thus, the two beaches could be certified as 4 stars on a 5-level scale. It was concluded that the most important factors of perceived quality by the visitors were cleanliness and security, followed by infrastructure (both basic and tourism-related).
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