A fuzzy framework for unraveling experiential tourism value

Abstract

There is currently a growing interest in the study of sustainable tourism experiences. Although the main dimensions of tourism experiences are known, the assessment of attractions as a key component in sustainable tourism design has seen little research. This gap stems from two primary challenges: firstly, the complexity of each tourism destination, which makes use of heterogeneous scales of evaluation; and secondly, the subjective nature of tourism experiences that requires qualitative measurement scales and assessment. To overcome these shortcomings, a new methodology based on fuzzy numbers is proposed, consisting of a scale normalization stage, followed by an aggregation of the fuzzy numbers that can be integrated into a Geographical Information System. This technique is tested on the quantification of the tourism value of attractions for sustainable experience in Santiago de Cuba.