Fonte: Journal of Tourism & Development; n. 12 (2009); 45-54
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Resumo: Currently, there is an increasing demand to natural areas for the practice of activities related to tourism, leisure and recreation where the hiking is one of the more usual activities. Hiking is among the new trends in tourism that range from ecotourism, active tourism to the wellness among others allowing the capture of several market segments or the setting of these tourists for more time in a destination area. The activities encouraged by walking trails could also bring economic benefits to the local populations and to promote the preservation of the cultural and natural environment thus meeting the principles of sustainability. The walking trail provides opportunities to visitors get to know the region as a whole and the tourist brochures let the tourists walk the trails alone without the support of a tourist guide (Roberts e Hall, 2001). In a study undertake to the national pedestrianists (Rodrigues, 2004) it was found that they give great importance to the existence of information on the walking trails, these leaflets to this market are very relevant.In this study, it as been evaluated the level of readability of the texts included in the walking trails brochures developed by the European Network of Village Tourism for the lodging units integrated in Alentejo, Portugal. This analysis intends to calculate the years of schooling required for the full understanding of a written document, the calculation is done through formulas that combine (among others), the type of words, the number of phrases and paraghrafs, ie, through an analysis based on the difficulty of words and phrases (Stephens, 2000). With this communication we intended to present the results of a study of the adequacy of brochures for the walking trails for the national market and to provide clues for a more strategic use of this resource and for a better suitability of existing market.
