Barometer of tourism

Abstract

Purpose In this paper, the barometer of tourism (BoT), as a new approach to environmental scanning, is presented and discussed. A unique research methodology developed by IPDT, with the aim of analyzing prospectively the tourism and hospitality sectors from the perspective of senior professionals and public and private decision makers, is illustrated in detail. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on official tourism information and on-going research by IPDT, in particular, the “Barometer of Tourism”, which results are used to correlate with official statistics, thus demonstrating the Barometer’s value as a scanning tool. Findings BoT is a simple and low budget tool that can successfully predict the behaviour of tourism demand for Portugal in the short and medium term. After 50 editions, BoT established itself as a recognized and unique trends’ identification tool for the Portuguese hospitality and tourism organizations. Practical implications Results provide rich insights on analyzing prospectively the tourism and hospitality sectors from the perspective of senior professionals and public and private decision makers. Originality/value This paper seeks to illustrate that BoT can successfully predict the behaviour of tourism demand for Portugal, being a simple, low-budget and recognized tool for trends identification in hospitality, travel and tourism organizations.