The choice of a destination to enter

A thorough literature review has shown that although there are many theories to explain international trade, researchers are unanimous in affirming that hotel chains' internationalisation is influenced by pull factors, related to specific characteristics of the host country (contextual and transactional environment), and by push factors, related to specific characteristics of the companies and of their home country. This chapter aims to identify which factors influence hotel chains choosing a destination to invest over another. With this purpose, a theoretical model, that included six pull factors related to the contextual environment and five factors linked to the tourism industry, was developed. This model was validated through questionnaire surveys applied to foreign investors running accommodation units in mainland Portugal. Fifty three questionnaires were considered valid, representing 64% of the universe of foreign investors in Portugal (accommodation sector).

Life cycle assessment of residual forestry biomass chips at a power plant: a Portuguese case study

The residual forest biomass (RFB) sector has been experiencing strong development at European level and particularly in Portugal mainly due to the increase of energy production from renewable sources. The aim of this study is to assess the environmental impacts of eucalyptus RFB chips production chain in Portugal. The environmental and economic impact comparison of the processes included in the production chain is presented as well. The environmental impacts were calculated by the life cycle assessment approach described in the ISO 14040 series of standards. The production chain assessed included all processes from eucalyptus forest until the delivery of RFB chips at the power plant. The main conclusion of this study is that eucalyptus wood production is the process that presents the greatest environmental impact through the product life cycle.