How Residentes Perceive the Impacts of Tourism. The Case of the Historic Centre of Porto

Abstract

Considering the increase in the number of tourists and tourist flows in the city of Porto, especially in the parishes that make up the UNESCO World Heritage area and its surrounding protected areas, it is extremely important to analyse the perception that residents and professionals have about the dynamics that tourists bring to the city and the impacts of tourism in economic, socio-cultural and environmental terms. Thus, this study aims to assess the perception that residents of the city of Porto have on the impacts of tourist activity in the Historic Centre of Porto (CHP) and whether there is a relationship between the place of residence, the place of professional activity or study and the perception of the impacts of tourism in the Economic, Socio-cultural and Environmental aspects. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was applied to a sample of 322 professionals and residents in the city of Porto. The results suggest that the respondents consider that tourism in Porto is growing harmoniously with the city and tourism activity has a direct influence on the overall improvement of the Centre of Porto. The aspects that is most relevant to the positive perception of tourism in the city is the socio-cultural component that shows that tourism development process in Porto is in an expansion phase.