Correspondence: Patrícia Oom do Valle, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal. Tel: +351289800900 ext 7426; Fax: +351289800920; E-mail: pvalle@ualg.pt

¹is Assistant Professor in Quantitative Methods for Business and Economics at the Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve. Her research interests include the application of multivariate statistics and econometrics in the understanding of consumer behaviour, mainly in the areas of environment, tourism and culture.

²is Assistant Professor in Economics and Tourism Demand at the Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve. She has previously published on tourism consumer behaviour and models.

³is Associate Professor in Quantitative Methods for Business and Economics at the Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve. His main scientific areas of research are econometric theory, applied econometrics and other quantitative methods applied to economics, general management, finance and marketing.

Received 12 July 2007; Published online 14 July 2008.

Abstract

Recent studies demonstrate that an increased number of Portuguese tourists choose Brazil as a tourism destination. Based on a literature review on the determinants of tourism demand, this study proposes a logit model that explains the probability of returning to this destination as a function of motivations, expectations, travel characteristics and the tourist's socio-demographic profile. After formulating the model, defining and testing of the six research hypotheses takes place. The study sample comprises 112 Portuguese tourists travelling to Brazil. The data fit the model adequately and the paper concludes with the authors discussing the theoretical and marketing implications.