Behaviours and Perceptions of Tourists and Residents of the Algarve: A Contribution to Enhancing Its Sustainable Development

Literature suggests that measuring the perceptions of all stakeholders, including tourists, residents, and public and private organizations, is required to monitor the sustainable development of a tourist destination holistically and comprehensively. There is a lack of monitoring systems of those perceptions in several tourist destinations, such as the Algarve, Portugal. The main objective of this paper is to contribute to bridging this gap by measuring the perceptions and behaviours of tourists and residents of the Algarve to inform decision-makers for designing and implementing public policies to strengthen the Algarve’s sustainable development. The research designed two questionnaires to measure the perceptions and behaviours of tourists and residents of the Algarve. Both questionnaires were based on a previously developed assessment model to monitor the Algarve’s sustainable development among four dimensions: economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and destination management. The results of these two surveys will support decision-makers in designing measures for more sustainable tourism development, considering both tourists’ behaviours and residents’ perceptions of the tourism impacts in the Algarve.