Perceptions of the quality of tourist and visitor attractions: a comparative survey of tourists and residents

Alves de Medeiros, Sandro ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3927-0334, William de Queiroz Barbosa, José ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0466-4205, Barbosa Tinoco Luz, Aline ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6245-6383, Mondo, Tiago Savi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8929-1339, Sthapit, Erose ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1650-3900 and Garrod, Brian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5468-6816 (2025) Perceptions of the quality of tourist and visitor attractions: a comparative survey of tourists and residents. Tourism Recreation Research. pp. 1-17. ISSN 0250-8281

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Abstract

This study makes a comparative analysis of tourists’ and residents’ perceptions of the quality of tourist/visitor attractions across five Brazilian macro-regions (North, Northeast, Central-west, Southeast and South). A survey was conducted during 2021 and 2022, with 1,776 participants (700 residents and 1,076 domestic tourists), focusing on 26 quality indicators derived from the TOURQUAL tool. Both residents and domestic tourists participated in the research. The data were analyzed using ANOVA. The analysis found significant differences between the perceptions of residents and tourists for several indicators, which varied from region to region. Overall, tourists tended to evaluate attractions more positively than residents, although there were some notable exceptions. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour in tourism by highlighting how different stakeholder groups have different perceptions of the quality of tourism attractions and how these differences vary on a regional basis within a country.