Beach Park Water Park, in the State of Ceará, Brazil, as a Tourist Attraction and the Influence of Hospitality on the Experience of Visitors

Abstract

Theme parks are considered tourist attractions in the entertainment market, offering equipment that can stimulate the local or even regional economy. In the case of Ceará, around 80% of tourists who visit the State take trips to the Beach Park water complex, the park that is the focus of this study. Despite the existence of some studies on theme parks that investigate the experience and enchantment of customers, there’s a gap to be filled by this article, which addresses the experience of visitors to a theme park from the perspective of hospitality. Thus, amidst the theoretical foundation presented, the indicators of the quality model by Mondo and Fiates (2017) are presented, which study categories such as: access, environment, human element, experience, safety and technical quality. In this context, the general objective was to understand visitors’ perception of hospitality at the Beach Park theme park. This is a descriptive-explanatory work with a quantitative approach based on data collected from park visitors. Data collection took place through questionnaires on google forms and data analysis was supported by statistical software. As a result, it was noticed that there was adequate signage and location at Beach Park, but there were long queues at the attractions. The employees’ interest in providing good service and helping people who frequented the park was highlighted as a positive point, as well as charging prices compatible with the products offered, causing customer satisfaction. It’s believed that paths have been opened for further studies that adopt confirmatory factor analysis.