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Top1. Introduction
In recent years, most European countries have faced difficulties associated with the recent economic crisis which have affected all sectors, including tourism (Dogru & Bulut, 2018). Nevertheless, in Portugal, and according to the World Tourism Organisation (WTTC, 2018), the sector grew (approximately 4,6% in 2017), for the eighth consecutive year. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), composed of some of the world’s largest travel companies, estimates that tourism in Portugal contributed to 17,3% of global GDP in 2017 and forecasts a 5,1% increase in 2018. In the global tourism markets, Portugal has improved its position from the 20th to the 14th most competitive destination between 2013 and 2017 (WEF-TTCI, 2018). These values reveal its significance for the country’s economic development.
Tourism is a sector with an intense use of natural resources and public good, therefore one of the main debates is in the sustainable development of an environmentally integrated tourism and in this context the concept of Sustainable Tourism (ST) is highlighted. This concept is of some complexity and hence demands in-depth analysis (Butler, 1999). ST “is not only essential for preserving the ecosystem and the sociocultural foundation of a developing destination but also for improving its competitiveness” (Goffi, Cucculelli & Masiero, 2019:110). ST has long-term impact and requires planning (Choi & Murray, 2010). Its development reveals economic repercussions that, as a rule, are borne by the residents (Gursoy, Jurowski & Uysal, 2002). These repercussions can be internalised through the taxation system. Thus, some taxes are created with non-sanctioning public purposes, in order to pursue social, political, economic, cultural or environmental purposes, with the goal of guiding individual or collective behaviours (Dourado, 2018). The fiscal system, as an economic instrument for controlling environmental externalities, has been progressively disseminated mainly through environmental policies (Ekins, 1999). It is known that the future of several destinations will depend more than ever on sustainable tourism policies (Kozak & Martin, 2012). In this context, research around tourism for sustainability, including interdisciplinary consumer analysis, is central to the study of sustainable tourism consumption. Here, a major challenge is to identify and know which consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable destinations (López-Sánchez & Pulido-Fernández, 2017). Hence, and given the emergence and relevance of the study of the taxation impacts on tourism, since the generated tax revenues account for about 10% of the tax revenue of some developed countries, and this number may approach 100% in small tourism economies (McAleer, Shareef & Da Veiga, 2005), we will focus our work on the analysis of the tourist willingness to pay for sustainable tourism.