DESENVOLVIMENTO E VALIDAÇÃO DE UMA ESCALA DIRETA PARA MENSURAÇÃO DE ATITUDES RELATIVAS A DESTINOS TURÍSTICOS

Measuring attitudes is a major challenge to the adoption of this concept for explaining and forecasting the behavior of consumers and tourists. This type of measurement has traditionally been conducted through indirect scales, with attitudes being inferred based on a series of indicators. However, direct scales in which individuals judge their own attitudes, through openly evaluative statements, can be more appropriate in specific conditions, especially when the subject only has a superficial knowledge of the object in question. The literature has very few scales for measuring direct attitude, resulting in a fragile theoretical and empirical basis for the adoption of this measurement. To fill this gap, this study develops a direct scale for measuring attitudes towards leisure tourism destinations. It follows the eight-step procedure for scale development suggested by DeVellis (2003). The instrument was empirically tested in a sample of students. The results show that direct scales are adequate for measuring attitudes towards tourism destinations, and that direct single-item scales are better than multiple-item scales.