Da crise cacaueira ao turismo experiencial chocolateiro

O artigo tem por objetivo compreender o movimento de (re)posicionamento da marca de Ilhéus, de destino tradicional de sol e mar para um destino de turismo experiencial chocolateiro. Como base teórica para dar suporte à interpretação dos dados foram adotados os construtos marca de destinos turísticos e turismo experiencial. Para tanto, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa qualitativa com coleta de dados realizada por meio de entrevistas com quatro gestores locais: o vice-prefeito da cidade, um empresário e presidente do Costa do Cacau Convention and Visitors Bureau, a proprietária da agência de turismo responsável pela comercialização da Costa do Cacau e, por fim, o proprietário de uma fazenda de cacau que recebe turistas. Os dados foram interpretados a partir de uma Análise Temática, que possibilitou observar que o movimento de reposicionamento da marca Ilhéus existe, mas ainda em fase inicial e tímida de mudança. Fez-se, ainda, a partir das entrevistas, um levantamento histórico do turismo na região. Observou-se, por fim, que: a) há concordância entre os entrevistados sobre a relevância do chocolate e do cacau para a identidade do destino; b) há percepção unânime de que Ilhéus possui muita atividade de turismo de massa, em que os visitantes tem pouco conhecimento sobre a cultura e história da região; c) há um movimento de consumidores que visam experiências mais diferenciadas, de busca pelo cacau e pelo chocolate da região; d) há, também, um movimento de criação de oferta de produtos turísticos voltados ao cacau e ao chocolate e ao turismo experiencial na região.

Convention and Visitors Bureau

In this chapter the focus is on Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs). It brings together academic literature on destination management, intermediation, and the meetings-and-events industry, and compares and contrasts that literature with professional opinion and practice. The chapter presents the origins of CVBs and then clarifies their definitions and institutional forms. It argues for the importance of the intermediation role of these key actors and highlights specific CVB functions in relation to the destination. The chapter presents tools to be implemented in order to fulfill those roles and recommends solutions to help CVBs face emerging challenges.

Tourism disaster resilience scorecard for destinations (TDRSD): the case of Manta, Ecuador

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop nine criteria for tourism disaster resilience scorecard for destinations (TDRSD) by using the “disaster resilience scorecard for cities, based on UNISDR’s ten essentials”. As a surrogate for the city, the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) is used at the destination level to manage and oversee disasters within the perspective of a visitor. The initial section of the paper revises the scorecard to adapt to the destination, while the second part of the paper applies the scorecard to a specific city destination. The TDRSD scorecard for CVBs was used to evaluate the destination of Manta, Ecuador. Design/methodology/approach – The approach included four stages. The first stage was to use a Delphi technique to evaluate and adapt the UNIDSRR scorecard to a destination (tourism) context. The second stage included conducting interviews with members of the Manta CVB and Mesa 5 (Emergency Management Department of Manta). Consequently, each answer was paired with support for the item and criteria score. Finally, the weak and strong scores were identified for each essential and match them up with recommendations and trends available in literature. Findings – This study set out to do three things: suggest that a similar scorecard is necessary for destinations; adapt the UNIDSR scorecard to a destination focus; and apply the TDRSD to Manta, Ecuador. Overall, these goals were met. But most interestingly, findings suggest some troubling outcomes. Originality/value – The study allowed to undercover gaps in the current risk management plan of the destination, while providing an evaluation of the engineering resilience of the tourism sector of Manta in case of a disaster.

Newport, Rhode Island — America's First Resort: Lessons in Sustainable Tourism

Newport, Rhode Island, seems to have learned the basic lessons in sustainable tourism development. The current slogan for the Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau is “Newport: Americas First Resort.” The purpose of this article was to answer the question: How has Newport been able to position, sustain, and thus manage itself as a fashionable tourism destination for over 300 years? Newport seems to have met its economic development needs without compromising the opportunity of future generations. The article explains how combined community efforts of various Newport civic groups specializing in heritage, cultural, nature, and adventure tourism and special events and festivals have produced a unique, sustainable tourism product.