Index

Figure 1. The different roles of stakeholders in the tourism destination.

Figure 2. Map of Portugal highlighting the municipality of Bragança.

Source: Taken from the website Pordata.

Table 1 . Mission, values, vision, and motto of the municipality of Bragança.

Figure 3. Evolution of guests and overnight stays in the municipality of Bragança (2015-2019).

Source: Taken from National Institute of Statistics (2016); National Institute of Statistics (2019)

One of the strategic axes proposed in the Major Planning Options, Budget and Personnel Chart 2021 (Bragança Municipality, 2021) focused on economic development and competitiveness, more specifically, the aim to "increase Bragança's notoriety index, projecting the brand as a territory of excellence." This projection was in line with the goal: "Develop, during the year, at least five promotional actions of the Bragança Brand, in Portugal and abroad" (Bragança Municipality, 2021).

4.4. Stakeholders

The Council of Bragança identified the following stakeholders as part of the strategic process for the year 2021: citizens, workers, government, parishes/unions of parishes, the "Norte 2020" program, educational institutions, cultural and sports associations, business and trade associations/services, entrepreneurs, suppliers, and other local agents.

5. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

5.1. Interviews To facilitate a nuanced analysis of the interviews, the questions and answers were separated into themes. This was done by creating themes into which the provided answers could be inserted, as shown in Table 2. This included, in addition to the specific themes, an "other ideas" category.

Themes analyzed

Strengths and weaknesses

Tourism demand and evolution of the interviewed areas

Consultation of entrepreneurs

Community involvement

Cooperation between the Chamber and the different associations

Perception of the message that Bragança's territorial brand passes on to tourists

Local community's sense of belonging to the Bragança brand

Bragança in 1 word

Other ideas

Most interviewees were asked about the strengths and weaknesses of the municipality of Bragança as a tourist destination. Unique and competitive attributes compared to other territories were identified as strengths, while issues in need of improvement were considered weaknesses.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Nature	Misuse of the Citadel
Gastronomy	Lack of tourism supply
Culture	Accessibility
Heritage	Lack of professionalism in the tourism sector
Hospitality	Tourist disorganization
Rurality	Lack of care (cleaning and signposting) in natural spaces
Typical villages
Not massively changed

Table 3 presents the main strengths and weaknesses mentioned by the interviewees. In order to illustrate the highlighted strengths, it is important to present the interviewees’ ideas in their own words:

"It is a very rich territory with many ancestral traditions and offers the potential more memorable and unique tourist experiences than they can experience in other areas of our country." (Interviewee A).
"(...) the authenticity – the truth is that we are a region that is not massively changed by tourism, that is, those who come here can experience some authenticity in the rurality that we still have, in the nature that we still have." (Interviewee F).
Concerning the weak points, we highlight the following ideas:
"There is still a lack of professionalism in the tourism area, whether on the part of tourism agents or even the entities themselves that have the responsibility of managing the tourism." (Interviewee M).
"The weak point is disorganization at the tourism level. (...) The organization chart for this should be: the public sector to promote, the agents that are on the ground (restaurants, accommodation, museums, etc. ) are all connected, and in the middle, there are one, two, three people who create a bridge between them and work to collect information, to update, to monitor (...) to know what the concerns and what the wishes of the private sector are and at the same time what the client type is (...) there has to be a very direct connection. (...) There are parts of the territory that are not talked about (...)." (Interviewee C).
"Nature itself in a raw state has two points, a very strong positive point, which is that it is untouched, and the negative point, which is that untouched nature is not enough for us to promote nature tourism. In other words, we must have economic agents, we must have companies linked to the tourist entertainment sector that really bridge the huge gap that exists between the city and the region.” (Interviewee F).

5.1.1. Demand for and Evolution of Tourism in the Area                            

Entrepreneurs of various commercial businesses were asked about the evolution of tourism in the region and the tourism demand for their business. This was asked in order to better understand the entirety of tourism, the tourism demand in the region, and whether these entrepreneurs were strongly linked with the tourism sector. It is important to understand how strong this link is, given that these entrepreneurs have direct contact with tourists. It is important to note that answers relate to the pre-pandemic (Covid-19) period.

Businesses that are not directly linked to the tourism sector (restaurants/grocery) generally stated that their business was much sought after by tourists, with one of the entrepreneurs even mentioning that more than 60% of their customers consisted of tourists.

Other ideas about tourism evolution from the interviews included:

"Tourism was naturally growing. (...) In terms of the economic factor, it was very positive because there was always intent, at least in the people I met, and other employees perceived it as well, to realize that they had intentions to invest here, and some even came looking to invest in the country, it was extremely positive." (Interviewee B)
"I can say that we were living in the so-called golden years of tourism. Tourist demand was growing and our region had become better known and recognized, and I think it had, and still has, a great deal of potential." (Interviewee A)

5.1.2. Consultation of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs were asked whether they had already been consulted by the Bragança City Council (CMB). The purpose of this question was to understand whether the CMB had enquired about entrepreneurs’ needs and interests about the destination and how they should communicate the destination to their tourist clients. Concerning this question, there was no consensus among the eight entrepreneurs, with some stating there was no such consultation, while others referred to some kind of contact – though it sometimes did not meet the needs of the entrepreneurs. Some of the ideas expressed were:

"I cannot remember very well... But I can say that there have already been certain initiatives (...) although I know that there is interest on the part of the municipality, I don't know if it is annual or not, to bring the tourism actors together and give them some training or information about the territory and get feedback." (Interviewee A)
"Yes and no. No, because it was not done in the best way, it was a consultation that they did (...) with various agents in the field, and then what came out was more of the same. (...) Despite listening to us, what they plan to do afterward is not exactly what we need (...)." (Interviewee C)
"At the level of communication... the Chamber often approaches us, but it ends up being very vague. That is, to get anything done, we must ask and ask (...). What I think is that a lot of effort, a lot of resources have been wasted, and above all, there is no dialogue, especially between the different state agents that could really regulate this strategy." (Interviewee F)
"Generally, I would say no... no tourism work is done with us. There's no territory work, there's office work, there's image work. (...) And I don't think that the council is working to try to understand, in my opinion, to try to understand the development of the city and to try to understand the gaps in terms of territory." (Interviewee G)

5.1.3. Community Involvement

Stakeholders were asked about their perception of the inclusion of the local community in the promotion and communication strategy of the destination. Of the 14 interviewees, only 9 responded to this question. Some responded positively about this involvement (3 respondents), whereas others stated that this involvement does not exist (3 respondents). Finally, 3 respondents answered the question more ambiguously.

"I judge that yes, I think the ‘transmontano’ is proud of its roots and traditions, I think so!" (Interviewee A)
"No. Before creating a brand, we should have gathered the entrepreneurs (...) to listen. Listen to the entrepreneurs and then communicate, what do you think are Bragança's strong points (...)." (Interviewee E)
"Not as much as it should be; maybe the first people to be involved should actually be the locals. Because they are the first contacts that exist with tourists (...)." (Interviewee L).

5.1.4. Cooperation Between the Council and the Different Entities and Associations

All the entities and associations interviewed were stakeholders of the municipality of Bragança and were therefore asked about their cooperation with the Town Council. All reported a positive relationship of cooperation between the two, in the sense that the municipality designs certain projects that the associations make feasible. This opinion also derives from the Council's interest in the associations and entities that participate in the organization of initiatives that are developed in the municipality.

5.1.5. Perception of the "Bragança Territorial Brand" Message

All the entrepreneurs were asked about their perception of the Bragança brand tourist messaging. Of the 8 entrepreneurs, 4 had a positive perception of the message, and the other 4 claimed to not know what message is being communicated. Some of the answers given by the entrepreneurs were:
"Well, we have a set of initiatives that have taken place here, like 'Bragança. Naturally!' and 'Bragança, freedom to start again'... I think that the message we want to convey is that of a natural territory, a territory with a lot of potential for personal well-being, also from a professional point of view." (Interviewee A).

W "I think the message is good, I think the message is positive. I think that people leave here with a good opinion because we know how to receive them well, we also know how to sell well, but I think that it is still not enough to make Bragança a touristic place (...)." (Interviewee G).
"I think it attracts potential tourists, which can create motivation for tour operators or people to become interested... I think there should be a stronger campaign targeted at tour operators, travel agencies, people who can support this destination in the medium and long term and not the final customer (...)." (Interviewee C).
"I think it sends a very tenuous message. I don't know what message it is sending, honestly (...). All the communication that is being done, is not being done whole-heartedly, with head, torso, and limbs. It is being done according to the situation." (Interviewee E).

5.1.6. The Local Community’s Sense of Belonging to the Territorial Brand

Interviewees were also asked about their perceptions of the local community’s sense of belonging to the Bragança territorial brand. Of the 14 respondents, 12 answered this question. Seven believed that there was a feeling of belonging (e.g., "I think so, because I myself have this feeling of belonging" - Interviewee A), 3 thought that this feeling did not exist ("No (...) I hear people from here say a lot (...) and we have nothing that distinguishes us (...). People feel some sorrow that Bragança does not have any product that really distinguishes it" - Interviewee E | "Not regarding the brand itself, but regarding the city, yes!" - Interviewee B), and 2 were unsure ("I don't know if it does, but I know it should have..." - Interviewee L).

  5.1.7. Bragança in One Word

At the end of each interview with the entrepreneurs, they were asked to define Bragança in a single word. The words chosen were inspiring, gastronomy, potential, magic, excellence, genuineness, and attractive. These words all correspond to positive characteristics of the municipality of Bragança, and this may reflect the image that entrepreneurs have of the municipality. Furthermore, throughout the interviews, themes and ideas arose spontaneously that were not directly related to the questions. Since several interviewees expressed similar ideas, some of these points are addressed here.

One such point relates to the training courses the Municipality of Bragança had organized for tourism stakeholders, to educate and empower people linked to the tourism sector. The theme "training" emerged in the interviews as an added value created by the Municipality. Some of the ideas expressed by the entrepreneurs interviewed were:

"I found it very pertinent (...) and I think that this initiative is undoubtedly praiseworthy and shows the concern that the municipality has in this sense." (Interviewee A).
"Excellent initiative." (Interviewee C).
Another commonly mentioned point related to the way the various public entities and associations (CMB, Porto and Northern Region Tourism Entity, Terras de Trás-os-Montes Inter-Municipality Community (CIM-TT) and the Association of Terra Fria Municipalities (AMTF) were involved in the promotion and communication of the territory. Each entity communicated a different area of the region, leading to different destination brands for each entity. This raised another issue, which is overlapping and incoherence between projects and initiatives. Many of the interviewees mentioned this point as one of the problems facing the promotion of the territory.

Some of the ideas mentioned in the interviews:

"The union between the entities and institutions obviously seems to me to be an extremely important point (...), I mean, each one doing its own work is wasting means, financial resources, and so on. (...) I think that the territories are only valid if they can unite around a joint strategy, and whoever thinks they can do this work individually is very wrong. Because Bragança cannot attract people by itself.” (Interviewee L).
"Sometimes, money is spent unnecessarily, so it would be much more valid and would have repercussions and a much greater market penetration if there were a joint communication (...)." (Interviewee M).
"The vision of the public sector is not the same as the vision or needs of the private one. (...) There are lots of projects in the territory, I am not talking only about the municipality of Bragança, I am talking about the district, that overlap; they get money for the same things (...). (...) 5 entities are communicating the territory, some things coincide, others are totally different, and then it happens that each one is trying to get ahead, it completely distorts everything." (Interviewee C).
Throughout the interviews, the importance of aligning the communication and promotion strategy with tourism agents was also mentioned, and this function should be the responsibility of a single entity, such as the Municipality. Some of the ideas expressed were:
"It seems quite an important fact to me that we align this strategy with the tourism agents. What I don't think is at all intelligent is for the Municipality to pull back from the bridges it has with local/private organizations." (Interviewee F).
"What happens is that the municipality defines it all, (...) they summon the entrepreneurs and the tourism agents, and they talk a bit about things and then they present what they intend to do. Most of them are SMEs, family businesses, with no strategic vision, no knowledge, no experience (...). If there were greater involvement in discussing ideas, finding solutions, seeking interactions between people and us, between the people of the city and the businessmen and the municipality, maybe we would converge in a more positive situation." (Interviewee B).
They also mentioned the lack of training and awareness in the local community. Several interviewees stated that many of the tourist areas have mainly small and medium-sized businesses, often family-run, and they are sometimes not sufficiently aware, educated, and trained to promote and communicate the territory.
"There is a great lack of awareness of people, a great lack of training for people in the villages, and the villages receive a lot of tourists..." (Interviewee C).
"Our entrepreneur profile, unfortunately... our entrepreneurs have a very low level of training (...)." (Interviewee E).

5.2. Questionnaires

To complement the interviews, 88 Bragança residents were surveyed. The survey was divided into two parts: the first collected socio-demographic data, and the second asked about the topic under analysis. The collected socio-demographic data included gender, age, marital status, education, and work activity of the 88 respondents, 54 (61.4%) were female, and 34 (38.6%) were male. Most were aged between 18 and 34 years old (61.3%), with the most common marital status being single (59.1%). Regarding schooling, most had a higher education (69.3%). Finally, concerning labor activity, 58% were employed.

In the second part of the survey, participants were first asked to define Bragança in 1 word, although this was not mandatory of the 88 respondents, 85 answered this question. The most frequently chosen words were “wonderful” and “nature,” each of which was chosen by 8 respondents, followed by “welcoming” (5 answers), “beautiful” (5 answers), “tranquility” (3 answers), “fantastic” (3 answers), “safe” (3 answers), and “quality of life” (3 answers). The remaining words were chosen once or twice. Most of the words corresponded to positive adjectives (e.g., “wonderful,” “beautiful,” and “welcoming”), others related to characteristics of the region (e.g., “nature,” “smoking,” and “mountainous”), and some related to judgments and opinions (e.g., “backward,” “unequal,” and “monotonous”).
The second question was, "Do you know which entity is responsible for the management and communication of the Bragança destination?" Of the 88 respondents, the majority (n=49; 55.7%) did not know, whereas 39 (44.3%) did. The third question employed a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Disagree - Disagree - Neither Agree nor Disagree - Agree - Strongly Agree) and presented six sentences relating to three dimensions (introduced by Choo et al. (2011): cognitive identification, affective identification, and evaluative identification). The objective was to understand the level of identification the community felt with the destination in these three dimensions.

Community’s level of identification with the destination			Likert scale N = 88 (%)
			1		2		3		4		5
			TD		D		NAD		A		TA
Cognitive Identification	The Bragança destination brand aligns with my personal identity.	6 6.82%		11 12.50%		30 34.09%		25 28.41%		16 18.18%
	I believe that the image I have of the municipality of Bragança is the same as the one the council communicates.	2 2.27%		22 25%		27 30.68%		26 29.55%		11 12.50%
Affective Identification	I feel represented by the Bragança destination brand.	7 7.5%		17 19.32%		28 31.82%		24 27.27%		12 13.64%
	I have a sense of belonging towards the Bragança destination brand.	7 7.95%		11 12.50%		26 29.55%		28 31.82%		16 18.18%
Valuative Identification	I play an important role in communicating Bragança's destiny.	10 11.36%		12 13.64%		24 27.27%		26 29.55%		16 18.18%
	I feel I am part of the communication of the Bragança destination.	6 6.82%		14 15.91%		20 22.73%		34 38.64%		14 15.91%

Note: 1 - Totally Disagree (TD); 2 - Disagree (D); 3 - Neither Agree nor Disagree (NAD); 4 - Agree (A); 5 - Totally Agree (TA); N - sample.

Table 4 presents the respondents' answers. For cognitive identification (awareness of the individual's own belonging to a social group), most respondents answered "Neither Agree nor Disagree." For affective identification (awareness of the individual's emotional involvement in a social group), most respondents answered "Neither Agree nor Disagree" or "Agree," Finally, for evaluative identification (awareness of the individual in relation to his/her inclusion in a social group) most respondents responded with "Agree."

To assess the reliability of the survey, Cronbach's Alpha was calculated. Table 5 shows that cognitive identification (= 0.779) had reasonable internal consistency, and affective identification (= 0.909) as well as evaluative identification (= 0.915) had good internal consistency.

The items with the highest level of agreement were item 6 (“I feel that I am part of the communication of the Bragança destination” mean = 3.41), item 4 (“I have a sense of belonging towards the Bragança destination brand” mean = 3.40) and item 1 (“The Bragança destination brand aligns with my personal identity” mean = 3.39). The items with the lowest level of agreement were item 3 (“I feel represented by the Bragança destination brand” mean = 3.19) and item 2 (“I believe that the image I have of the municipality of Bragança is the same as the one the Municipality communicates” mean = 3.25).

Finally, the answers within each identification dimension were averaged, and Figure 5 presents the division of the answers into 3 segments: “Totally Disagree” and “Disagree” (ranging from 1 to 2.5), “Neither Agree nor Disagree” (3), and “Agree” and “Totally Agree” (ranging from 3.5 to 5). Although most of the respondents answered “Agree” and “Totally Agree” in the three dimensions, a significant proportion of respondents also answered “Totally Disagree” and “Disagree” and “Neither Agree nor Disagree.” In other words, although the results present a positive paradigm, there is still room for improvement via initiatives/actions with the objective of obtaining ideal results (> or = 70% agreement).

Dimension	Cronbach's alpha	Nº items	Average ± Standard D.	Correlation Item / Factor
Cognitive Identification	0.779	Item 1	3.39±1.129	0.640
		Item 2	3.25±1.042	0.640
Affective Identification	0.909	Item 3	3.19±1.143	0.834
		Item 4	3.40±1.160	0.834
Valuative Identification	0.915	Item 5	3.30±1.243	0.846
		Item 6	3.41±1.141	0.846

Table 6. WoM agreement data from respondents.

Statement	Likert scale N = 88 (%)
	1	2	3	4	5
	TD	D	NAD	A	TA
I convey a positive opinion about Bragança to other people.	1 1.14%	3 3.41%	3 3.41%	39 44.32%	42 47.73%
I don't speak favorably about Bragança.	38 41.18%	30 34.09%	8 9.09%	6 6.82%	6 6.82%
I encourage friends and acquaintances to visit Bragança.	1 1.14%	2 2.27%	6 6.82%	33 37.50%	46 52.27%
Whenever possible I recommend Bragança as a holiday destination.	5 5.68%	5 5.68%	11 12.50%	29 22.73%	38 41.18%
I don't suggest visiting Bragança on holiday.	46 52.27%	23 26.14%	12 13.64%	4 4.55%	3 3.41%
I know how to recommend activities in Bragança.	4 4.55%	5 5.68%	12 13.64%	37 42.05%	30 34.09%

Note: 1 – Totally Disagree (TD); 2 - Disagree (D); 3 - Neither Agree nor Disagree (NAD); 4 - Agree (A); 5 - Totally Agree (TA); N - sample.

The last question also used a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly Disagree - Disagree - Neither Agree nor Disagree - Agree - Strongly Agree) and consisted of six sentences related to word-of-mouth (WoM) of the destination to tourists. It aimed to discover whether respondents transmitted a positive destination image and recommend it as a holiday destination. Table 6 presents the survey results. The vast majority of respondents conveyed a positive destination image (“Agree” 39 respondents and “Totally Agree” 42 respondents) and encouraged friends and acquaintances to visit Bragança (“Agree” 33 respondents and “Totally Agree” 46 respondents) 23.87% (21 respondents) would not recommend visiting Bragança, since they chose the answers “Totally Disagree,” “Disagree,” or “Neither Agree nor Disagree.”

Dimension	Cronbach's alpha	Nº items	Average ± Standard D.	Correlation Item / Factor	Cronbach's alpha
WoM	0.798	Item 1	4.34±0.801	0.621	0.758
		Item 2	4.00±1.194	0.670	0.749
		Item 3	4.38±0.807	0.762	0.710
		Item 4	4.02±1.144	0.524	0.774
		Item 5	4.19±1.060	0.322	0.828
		Item 6	3.95±1.060	0.536	0.771

Regarding Cronbach's alpha, Table 7 shows that WoM has a reasonable internal consistency (= 0.798). The items with the highest level of agreement were item 2 (“I do not speak favorably about Bragança” mean = 4.38) and item 1 (“I convey a positive opinion about Bragança to other people” mean = 4.34). The items with the lowest level of agreement were item 4 (“Whenever possible I recommend Bragança as a holiday destination” mean = 3.95) and item 5 (“I do not suggest visiting Bragança on holiday” mean = 4).

Finally, we calculated Pearson's correlation coefficient R between the different identification dimensions and WoM to measure the contribution an independent variable (identification dimension) has in the variation of the dependent one (WoM). In Table 8, we can see that all correlations were positive and significant and that WoM had a moderate association with cognitive identification and affective identification and a low association with evaluative identification.

Items	Cognitive Identification	Affective identification	Evaluative identification
WoM	0.417**	0.414**	0.389**

Note: ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

6. CONCLUDING REMARKS

Destinations should be managed in close partnership with the promoter and the different stakeholders. Although many conceptual models in the literature place stakeholders as a central element in the implementation of destination management strategies, they are often left out of the creation and communication process.

This study’s analysis was not able to identify a cooperative relationship between the Bragança destination management entity and the tourism/commercial entities. In other words, the promoter does not seek to know the needs and interests of those who have direct contact with tourists, even though they are the ones who have greater sensitivity and access to gaps and problems in this sector. This relationship is extremely important for the successful operation of any region, and it is essential to establish a two-way cooperative relationship.

Another point that was mentioned in most of the interviews is that the various entities aiming to promote the destination do not have a joint strategy, leading to various overlapping projects and messages. This happens because each entity promotes a different geographical area of the region. Instead, different entities should focus on a certain area and work together to promote the territory. The Municipal Councils communicate their municipality, the ERTPN communicates Trás-os-Montes (covering municipalities in two districts), the CIM-TT communicates Terras de Trás-os-Montes (some municipalities of the district of Bragança), and the Association of Terra Fria Municipalities and the Association of Terra Quente Municipalities communicate the municipalities inherent to each association in the district of Bragança. It should be noted that the whole district of Bragança has similar characteristics, and it would be much more effective to market it as a single region, even at a touristic level, since the destination's image in the consumer's mind is more easily created if a joint brand is communicated.

Finally, the issue of involving the local community in the creation of the destination's promotion and communication strategy did not generate much consensus among the interviewees. Some acknowledged this involvement, while others claimed there was none. Nevertheless, it is an important element in marketing the destination.

In the survey of local inhabitants, although most respondents agreed, to some extent, with the phrases in the different identification dimensions, a significant proportion of the respondents were neutral or did not agree. Therefore, it is important to note that the different identification dimensions should be worked on through initiatives/actions to ensure that locals identify with the brand being communicated.

In general, we can conclude that although several respondents did not cognitively or affectively identify with the destination, most were happy to transmit a positive message, recommend the destination, and encourage friends and acquaintances to visit Bragança. Given this finding, we can confirm that the local community has a sense of belonging to the destination Bragança and shows an interest in being part of the destination’s communication process. We can also see that the respondents have a positive image of the destination, and this is related to the positive message (WoM) that they pass on to tourists, aligning with the findings of Stylidis (2018) and Strandberg et al. (2020).

In light of the abovementioned facts, it is essential to raise awareness of the importance of the different stakeholders in the process of constructing, communicating, and promoting a regional brand. This is an element that should be at the heart of any strategic plan to communicate and promote a tourist destination. In this sense, this study hopes to stimulate and encourage the involvement of the local community in the destination’s strategic plans. Based on the results of the interviews and surveys, a set of recommendations for the management of the destination has been created to solve some of the identified problems. Therefore, our suggestions of actions that can be taken by the destination's management entity together with other relevant entities include:

• Developing promotion and internal communication initiatives about the territory, i.e., educate and empower the local community about the potentialities of the region.
• Awareness actions within the local community to stimulate participation in the destination's communication.
• Periodic consultation with the majority of the region's stakeholders to discover their needs, interests, and concerns about the region.
• Present the region's promotional campaigns to stakeholders in advance so that they are aware of what is being communicated and can take part in the promotion.
• Align all entities/associations that have a role in promoting the territory so that a specific geographical area/destination brand is communicated.

7.LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

This study has some limitations, particularly concerning the sample selected for the interviews since it could have covered more entities from different sectors, and some of the interviewed entities were chosen for convenience. This is because some entities, after being contacted, did not show interest in participating, so others were used where the people in charge were part of the researchers' network. It should also be noted that the sample of respondents was not a faithful representation of the population of the municipality of Bragança since a large part of the sample was chosen by convenience, and the survey was conducted online, which may have influenced the characteristics of the respondents. Therefore, it would be desirable in future work to interview a larger sample of tourism entities and individuals to allow stronger conclusions to be drawn. Besides considering a larger sample in future research, it would also be interesting to conduct a longitudinal study to observe the involvement of different stakeholders in the promotional actions of the destination. This study could take the form of a more practical line of research, in which for each action, event, or promotional initiative proposed by the respective management entity, the cooperation and involvement of the local community are analyzed. Another possible future line of research would be to analyze the contact that tourists have with the local community and their perception of this contact to ascertain whether tourists consider the local community to be a key element in selecting and enjoying a destination.

Funding: This study received no specific financial support.

Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ Contributions: All authors contributed equally to the conception and design of the study.

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