Factors influencing the choice of the Algarve region as a tourist destination: Does season matter?

The dissimilar ways in which tourists assess the attributes of a tourism destination in different seasons is an issue scarcely addressed in the literature. Here, we show that the characteristics of a tourism destination (the Algarve region, Portugal) are rated differently in peak (summer) and off?peak (autumn/winter) seasons. Nationality is decisive in explaining the different assessments between seasons of the factors that group subsets of 17 attributes of the tourism destination. In general, the factors that are rated higher by domestic tourists during the summer are the same as those that are rated higher by foreign tourists in the autumn/winter.