Fatores determinantes do sentimento de bem-estar de turistas em relação a um destino turístico de natureza

Abstract

Nature-based tourism has become a growing segment around the world, because it plays a vital role in improving the quality of life and well-being of tourists. Therefore, the objective of this study was to propose and validate a Theoretical Model, testing factors determining tourists’ feelings of well-being in relation to a natural tourist destination, which included the constructs tourist destination image, tourist ecological awareness, service quality, tourist satisfaction and word of mouth communication, as well as analyzing the moderating effect of tourist engagement on the relationship between their satisfaction and their feeling of well-being with the tourist destination. To this end, the research was operationalized through a survey with a sample of 339 tourists who visited the Jalapão region, the main nature tourist destination in the State of Tocantins (TO). As a procedure for data analysis, multivariate data analysis was used, using the Structural Equation Modeling technique. The results of the study show a strong explanatory power of the proposed Theoretical Model (R2 = 0.997), in addition to indicating that the investigated constructs are, in fact, determinants of tourists' feeling of well-being with the investigated nature destination. The findings contain important information and implications for tourism theory and practice, which can contribute to the development of more assertive products and/or services or to the creation of meaningful experiences for tourists, thus generating greater satisfaction and initiatives positive word-of-mouth communication mainly by means high tourist engagement.