Who Values What in a Tourism Destination? The Case of Madeira Island

This research studies the importance placed on different aspects of a tourism destination – Madeira Island – at the time tourists make their decision to visit. The authors use an ordered probit model to see how the socio-demographic characteristics of the tourists and different aspects of the trip affect the valuation given to 30 different aspects of the destination. They conclude that males tend to value 12 of the aspects less, while valuing golf more. Older tourists place a higher value on the scenery of the destination and a lower value on the more active/sport aspects. The more educated tourists value levadas (man-made water channels with pathways used for pedestrian walks) more and organized tours less. British tourists value the climate and Portuguese tourists value extreme sports. These results are very useful when preparing any marketing strategy and extremely important when preparing development plans for the tourism sector.