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Sustainable Tourism Strategies in Pandemic Contexts

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 50474

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Geography, and Lab2PT – Landscape, Heritage and Territory, University of Minho, 4710 - 057 Braga, Portugal
Interests: creative tourism, cultural tourism, and local and regional development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Interests: regional economics; tourism economics; cultural tourism; regional development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Lab2PT—Landscape, Heritage and Territory Laboratory, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Interests: sustainable management; LFN and health effects; regional and local development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Humanity has always been confronted by pandemics. Some of them were recorded in our collective history due to the demographic, economic, and socio-cultural impacts which they caused, and others have been remembered whenever it is necessary to carry out a retrospective analysis of our pandemic past and make the collective memory present.

In 2020, the tourism sector has been one of the most affected by the  ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, preventing individuals from traveling and getting out of their ordinary daily life. How can we learn from the COVID-19 crisis to put in place more sustainable tourism strategies? What can be done to overcome this pandemic and contribute to the sustainability of destinations? Why is a sustainable solution so hard to achieve in the tourism industry? What can be the role of circular economy in this process? What role can less massified tourism segments take in the establishment of a new tourist path? Can pandemics put an end to massified tourism models? Can we face the emergence of new trends where domestic tourism will play a larger role in tourist development strategies? What is the role of different stakeholders (e.g., politicians, residents, tourists) in tourism strategies aiming to prevent and overcome pandemic scenarios? What about the role played by technologies such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Webmapping, Augmented Reality, and others? What is the potential of big data in the management of this kind of crisis and overcoming it?

This Special Issue aims to provide a forum to discuss the sustainability of the tourism industry in pandemic scenarios (present and future ones) and beyond them, learning from the present health crisis and from past ones. Conceptual approaches and empirical ones—namely, case studies from different countries and regions around the world—will be accepted. Less successful and successful cases will both be welcome.

We are organizing a Special Issue for the Sustainability journal (ISSN 2071-1050; impact factor: 2.576) aiming to discuss present and future tourism sustainable trends in pandemic contexts and beyond them. Pandemic periods are becoming more and more common in the present century and perhaps will continue to be so in the near future. Nevertheless, tourism has been revealed to be an extremely dynamic and adaptive phenomenon. Keeping this in mind, we believe that there is a need to look for new approaches to tourism development. No doubt, we should work on making the tourism industry more sustainable.

There has been a lot of literature published in the last eight months on the COVID-19 pandemic concerning its impacts in tourism activity. The present issue will usefully supplement the literature that has been produced on the issue. 

Dr. Paula Remoaldo
Prof. Dr. José Cadima Ribeiro
Dr. Juliana Alves
Guest Editors

 

Keywords

  • Conceptual approaches to more sustainable forms of tourism and pandemic scenarios: • New sustainable approaches to pandemic scenarios—the role of circular economy
  • The relationship between climate change, pandemic scenarios, and sustainable destinations
  • The role of creative tourism and other non-massified segments in pandemic times Rethinking tourism in the ongoing pandemic and post-COVID-19 period—the role of cities and of less urbanized territories
  •  Environmental, economic, and social effects of pandemics on tourism destinations
  • The role of different stakeholders (e.g., politicians, residents, tourists) in tourism strategies to prevent and overcome pandemic scenarios
  • The role of (new) technologies (e.g., GIS, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality) and big data in the development of tourism strategies in the ongoing pandemic and post-COVID-19 period
  • Tourists’ perceptions of the risk of pandemics
  • Case studies at local, regional, and international scales.

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 588 KiB  
Article
Strategies for Creative Tourism Activities in Pandemic Contexts: The Case of the ‘Saídas de Mestre’ Project
by Noemi Marujo, Maria do Rosário Borges, Jaime Serra and Rosa Coelho
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10654; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910654 - 25 Sep 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3062
Abstract
The development of creative tourism in small towns in rural areas has been the subject of growing interest and research from different perspectives. As part of the national CREATOUR project, which took place in Portugal over about four years, various organisations with relevant [...] Read more.
The development of creative tourism in small towns in rural areas has been the subject of growing interest and research from different perspectives. As part of the national CREATOUR project, which took place in Portugal over about four years, various organisations with relevant activity in the cultural aspect of creative tourism were analysed, constituting a successful reference at a national and international level. However, since mid-2020, the health crisis owing to the pandemic made it necessary to reflect and work under new circumstances for tourism, in contexts not previously planned for, and at the same time as continuing to champion sustainable development. It is in this context that the present study emerges, the aim of which is to identify organizations’ strategies for adaptation within the scope of creative tourism activities in a pandemic situation. This empirical approach is anchored in the case study of the activities of the ‘Saídas de Mestre’ project based on intangible cultural heritage, using in-depth analysis of strategies developed to mitigate the effects of supply and demand constraints. The results show that there was no disintegration of the supply structure, as planned, due to the fact that creative activities are based on the valorisation of the principles of sustainable development and, therefore, depend on endogenous resources and local agents, who remained accessible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Tourism Strategies in Pandemic Contexts)
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24 pages, 2145 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Determinants That Affect Tourist Arrival Forecasting
by Sergej Gricar, Tea Baldigara and Violeta Šugar
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9659; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179659 - 27 Aug 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3985
Abstract
This study considers diversification effects and significant influences on tourist arrivals as a vital export direction. Different quantitative methods, namely a cointegrated-autoregressive model, panels, sentiment and sensitivity analysis, were used in this study. The time-series data for Croatia and Slovenia were isolated from [...] Read more.
This study considers diversification effects and significant influences on tourist arrivals as a vital export direction. Different quantitative methods, namely a cointegrated-autoregressive model, panels, sentiment and sensitivity analysis, were used in this study. The time-series data for Croatia and Slovenia were isolated from several secondary sources. The variables examined in this approach are tourist arrivals, precipitations, sunny days, earthquakes, microbes and CO2 emissions. The study results showed that there is a severe negative effect on tourist arrivals defined by viruses. Moreover, there is a significant decisive effect of weather conditions on tourist arrivals. Nevertheless, it is necessary to move past Covid-19 pandemic discussions to yield more accurate tourism supply forecasts, while demand is already somehow low since the beginning of 2020. The primary significance is to develop a broader thinking about the impacts of CO2 emissions on the tourism escorted to official tourist websites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Tourism Strategies in Pandemic Contexts)
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19 pages, 1346 KiB  
Article
Rethinking Tourism Industry in Pandemic COVID-19 Period
by Anca Antoaneta Vărzaru, Claudiu George Bocean and Marian Cazacu
Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6956; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126956 - 21 Jun 2021
Cited by 58 | Viewed by 23033
Abstract
The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) has significantly affected the tourism industry. Tourist destinations have adopted emergency measures and restrictions that have affected the mobility of individuals around the world. Beaches and resorts were empty, cities were deserted, people’s movements were [...] Read more.
The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) has significantly affected the tourism industry. Tourist destinations have adopted emergency measures and restrictions that have affected the mobility of individuals around the world. Beaches and resorts were empty, cities were deserted, people’s movements were stopped, and travel among different territories was strictly controlled. COVID-19-caused quarantine around the world has harmed people’s livelihoods and the world economy. This study aims to analyze the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry and overall economic performance. Based on the research results and exploratory research of the literature, we listed in a synthesizing manner several measures to ensure the resilience of the tourism sector during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Tourism Strategies in Pandemic Contexts)
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29 pages, 8070 KiB  
Article
Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Tourist Risk Perceptions—The Case Study of Porto
by Hélder da Silva Lopes, Paula C. Remoaldo, Vitor Ribeiro and Javier Martín-Vide
Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6399; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116399 - 4 Jun 2021
Cited by 65 | Viewed by 7956
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak (in early 2020) has dictated significant changes in society and territories by anticipating trends, changing priorities, and creating challenges, which are manifested in the territories. These are influenced by the levels of economic, cultural, and social restructuring, in the [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak (in early 2020) has dictated significant changes in society and territories by anticipating trends, changing priorities, and creating challenges, which are manifested in the territories. These are influenced by the levels of economic, cultural, and social restructuring, in the measures implemented by public administration or in attempts to redefine strategies for tourism destinations. This paper examines the perceptions and behaviors of tourists before and during COVID-19 in the municipality of Porto, the main area of the Porto Metropolitan Area, in Portugal. Research was based on the application of a questionnaire survey, probing the sensitivity of tourists to the crisis in the decision-making of daily routines, as well as future travel plans in the presence of a serious health concern. A total of 417 surveys were collected in the summers of 2019 and 2020. In addition to descriptive statistics, this paper also includes the results of the analysis of explanatory factors, being a reference for future studies. There were significant changes in the use of public space and the way tourist visits are handled, namely: (i) the concentration of visiting time (shorter visit than usual in certain tourist profiles); (ii) spatially limited visiting areas; and (iii) the ability to attract standard tourists from certain countries where tighter lockdown rules were imposed. Main implications of this study are reflected in the challenges that are imposed on the local agenda, where traditional problems are added to the responsibilities in crisis management and the ability to establish a third order of intervention in tourism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Tourism Strategies in Pandemic Contexts)
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26 pages, 1993 KiB  
Article
The Impact of a Global Crisis on Areas and Topics of Tourism Research
by Ulrika Persson-Fischer and Shuangqi Liu
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 906; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020906 - 18 Jan 2021
Cited by 55 | Viewed by 9889
Abstract
Tourism research has placed considerable emphasis on the pandemic and its impact, which is not surprising given the impact of the pandemic on tourism. However, what specifically do tourism scholars write about the pandemic and its consequences for tourism? What new insights does [...] Read more.
Tourism research has placed considerable emphasis on the pandemic and its impact, which is not surprising given the impact of the pandemic on tourism. However, what specifically do tourism scholars write about the pandemic and its consequences for tourism? What new insights does the literature on COVID-19 provide to guide our practice in sustainable tourism? The pandemic can be seen as a sustainability challenge. Dealing with the pandemic and other sustainability challenges like climate change will not require exactly the same remedies, but the same kind, building resilience, adaptivity, flexibility, collaboration, and co-creation. We thus argue that the literature on tourism and the pandemic may function as a “thermometer” of the way scholars view sustainability and tourism, and that exploring this literature gives us a space to reconsider our understanding of sustainable tourism. Therefore, we have conducted a literature review of the COVID-19 literature on tourism in 2020. A total of 87 articles, in 17 journals, from 4 databases were analyzed to explore how current scholars perceive COVID-19 and tourism, in light of sustainability perspectives. As a result, through the content analysis, this study has found six leading themes in COVID-19 and tourism and has provided valuable information with descriptive statistical analysis for its distributions by theory, methodology, and study area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Tourism Strategies in Pandemic Contexts)
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