Analysis of the visitors' profile of the islands Ilha do Superagüi e Ilha do Mel - Marketing as an instrument for sustainable tourism

The objectives of this work were to analyze and to compare the visitors of the immediate surroundings of two protected areas in the State of Paraná: the National Park of Superagüi and the Ecological Station “Ilha do Mel”, both islands. There was applied a questionnaire with 37 qualitative and quantitative questions. The questionnaire consisted of five parts: sociodemographic characteristics; trip characteristics; environmental conscience and attitudes; favorite activities and motivation; and perception of the destiny. The data were collected through personal interviews that in the average took from 20 to 30 minutes. 327 questionnaires were applied in Superagüi; in the period of December of 1998 to May of 2000, and 392 on the Ilha do Mel, in the period of April of 2000 to June of 2000. There are significant differences among the visitors of the two islands, this practically in all the researched characteristics. The public of the Ilha do Mel is significantly younger, what influences in several other variables, such as: civil status; education degree; and employment situation. 84% of the visitors of Ilha do Mel heard about it through friends/family, while in Superagüi only 67%. Ilha do Mel, for being a tourist destiny already for a longer time and the easy access, receives a larger number of people with repeated visits. Tourism was trip objective to a larger portion of the visitors of Ilha do Mel; in compensation they were observed significantly more researchers in Superagüi. Visitors’ environmental conscience can be considered high on both islands, but the one of the visitors of Ilha do Mel was inferior to Superagüi. Fewer respondents knew that the place they visited is a protected area. The value of the entrance fee that they are willing to pay was significantly smaller, as well as the disposition to follow the rules in favor of the conservation of nature. The interest in social and environmental subjects was significantly higher among the visitors of Superagüi. They were also willing to pay more for the use of environmental sane techniques than the respondents on Ilha do Mel. The interest in practicing the 25 tourist activities was significantly different between the two places. The comparison of the visitors’ attitude towards to problems showed that a part of the interviewees in Superagüi is much less inconvenienced with problems linked to the infrastructure that reduce the comfort during the stay, confirmed this fact by the smaller importance they give to items of tourist infrastructure. Among the visitors of Superagüi there was an accentuated concern with the improvement of the quality of the host community's life, fact not noticed on Ilha do Mel. In terms of motivation, it was shown that the visitors of Superagüi have larger appreciation to the natural and cultural values and the escape of the stress of the city than the ones of Ilha do Mel. There was also accomplished a benefit segmentation, showing that it is possible to identify distinct segments among the visitors of the same place. In Superagüi they were identified the following clusters: 1) the indifferent ones; 2) the non-sociable adventurers; 3) the sociable adventurers; 4) the enthusiasts; and 5) the non-sociable naturalists. On Ilha do Mel there were identified five different clusters: 1) the sociable adventurers; 2) the pure naturalists; 3) the enthusiasts; 4) the indifferent ones; and 5) the cultural naturalists.