Impact in tourism sector of portuguese airports hinterland due to low-cost carriers operation

Due to the deregulation of the airline market in Europe, LCC’s have shown a fast growth in the last decade. This change in airline market has affected the way many airports operate and it’s expected that this impacts not only in airport performance, but also in its hinterland. Tourism development is one of the main beneficiaries of this new paradigm. This study focus on the identification of the possible impacts in tourism due to LCC’s operation, during a seven years’ period, by assessing airports performance through a self-benchmark with a MCDA methodology and comparing the results with some tourism indicators in the Portuguese airports hinterland.