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Abstract(s)
A pandemia epidemiológica do novo Coronavírus (COVID-19) veio impactar negativamente o setor do Turismo à escala mundial. Este setor é um dos maiores veículos para a implementação do Desenvolvimento Sustentável e esta crise pandémica revela-se fundamental para repensar e reestruturar o turismo num sentido mais sustentável. A chave para a operacionalização deste conceito de Sustentabilidade está nos stakeholders do Turismo e daí advém a importância de investigar as suas perceções e atitudes. Este estudo foca-se em analisar os impactos da COVID-19 nas três dimensões do Turismo Sustentável (económica, social e ambiental) na Região Autónoma dos Açores, considerada como um dos destinos turísticos mais sustentáveis do mundo, na perspetiva de dois stakeholders: os Residentes e as Empresas do Ramo Turístico. Para avaliar e responder aos objetivos do trabalho, desenvolveu-se um estudo de carácter qualitativo, através de entrevistas semiestruturadas, obtendo-se uma amostra de 17 residentes das nove ilhas e de 13 empresas sediadas nos Açores. Os resultados demonstram que a Sustentabilidade Financeira do setor foi fortemente abalada nesta região para todas as partes envolvidas, através do agravamento da situação financeira dos residentes com ligação ao turismo e da impossibilidade de criação de postos de trabalho que estavam previstos no período pré pandémico. A Sustentabilidade Social foi colocada em causa principalmente pela afetação das relações entre os residentes e os turistas, e as empresas referem mudanças na origem dos turistas que têm recebido, que passaram a ser portugueses oriundos do continente e do próprio arquipélago, não sendo tão exigentes nos requisitos da sustentabilidade como os turistas internacionais. Quanto à Sustentabilidade Ambiental, é possível concluir que a pandemia teve um efeito positivo principalmente na ótica dos residentes, representado por um crescimento bem visível da vegetação dos trilhos pedestres, concluindo-se também que os problemas ligados à poluição estão muitas vezes relacionados com residentes e não com turistas. No caso das empresas, ficou provado que a pandemia veio gerar alguns constrangimentos especialmente através da produção de todo o lixo inerente ao material preventivo, como máscaras e desinfetantes. Com os resultados desta investigação pretende-se contribuir para futuras investigação relativas aos impactos da COVID-19 na Sustentabilidade do Turismo, uma vez que a pandemia ainda é uma realidade e torna-se necessário reunir as perspetivas dos vários stakeholders para as entidades públicas definirem estratégias eficazes no sentido de encaminhar o setor num sentido cada vez mais sustentável.
The infectious disease outbreak caused by the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) negatively impacted the tourism sector all around the world. This sector is one of the most important vehicles to implement a Sustainable Development and this pandemic crisis is an opportunity to rethink and restructure tourism in a more sustainable way. The key to the sustainability concept operationalization is in Tourism Stakeholders hence the importance to explore their perception and attitudes. This study focuses on analyzing the impacts of COVID-19 on the three dimensions of Sustainable Tourism (economic, social and environmental) in Azores Autonomous Regions, one of the most sustainable tourism destinations in the world, from the perspective of two stakeholders: the residents and the tourism companies. In order to assess and answer to the work objectives, a qualitative study was developed through semi structured interviews and the sample was composed by 17 residents from the nine islands and 13 companies based in Azores. The results show that financial sustainability of the tourism sector was affected in the region for all the parts involved, as it is possible to see in things such as the financial situation of residents who work on the tourism sector, that got worse with the pandemic, and the fact that companies stopped hiring, differently from what was planned before the pandemic. The results also show that social sustainability was damaged mainly because of the relationships between residents and tourists. Regarding companies, results show there the tourists that these companies are receiving during the pandemic are now different, being mainly from Portugal Mainland and from Azores region, and therefore not as worried about sustainability issues like international tourists. In the environmental dimension, it was possible to conclude that the pandemic had a positive effect on the resident’s perspective once they noticed a visible growth of footpath vegetation. Furthermore, residents said that problems related to pollution are often linked to residents themselves and not to tourists. In the company’s case, it was proved that COVID-19 brought some constraints once they started to produce a lot of waste linked to the pandemic, such as masks and disinfectants. All the results are important to contribute to future investigation about the impacts of COVID-19 in tourism sustainability, once this pandemic still exists and there is a need to understand stakeholders perspectives for public entities, as these are crucial to plan and define suitable strategies in order to guide tourism in an increasingly sustainable direction.
The infectious disease outbreak caused by the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) negatively impacted the tourism sector all around the world. This sector is one of the most important vehicles to implement a Sustainable Development and this pandemic crisis is an opportunity to rethink and restructure tourism in a more sustainable way. The key to the sustainability concept operationalization is in Tourism Stakeholders hence the importance to explore their perception and attitudes. This study focuses on analyzing the impacts of COVID-19 on the three dimensions of Sustainable Tourism (economic, social and environmental) in Azores Autonomous Regions, one of the most sustainable tourism destinations in the world, from the perspective of two stakeholders: the residents and the tourism companies. In order to assess and answer to the work objectives, a qualitative study was developed through semi structured interviews and the sample was composed by 17 residents from the nine islands and 13 companies based in Azores. The results show that financial sustainability of the tourism sector was affected in the region for all the parts involved, as it is possible to see in things such as the financial situation of residents who work on the tourism sector, that got worse with the pandemic, and the fact that companies stopped hiring, differently from what was planned before the pandemic. The results also show that social sustainability was damaged mainly because of the relationships between residents and tourists. Regarding companies, results show there the tourists that these companies are receiving during the pandemic are now different, being mainly from Portugal Mainland and from Azores region, and therefore not as worried about sustainability issues like international tourists. In the environmental dimension, it was possible to conclude that the pandemic had a positive effect on the resident’s perspective once they noticed a visible growth of footpath vegetation. Furthermore, residents said that problems related to pollution are often linked to residents themselves and not to tourists. In the company’s case, it was proved that COVID-19 brought some constraints once they started to produce a lot of waste linked to the pandemic, such as masks and disinfectants. All the results are important to contribute to future investigation about the impacts of COVID-19 in tourism sustainability, once this pandemic still exists and there is a need to understand stakeholders perspectives for public entities, as these are crucial to plan and define suitable strategies in order to guide tourism in an increasingly sustainable direction.
Description
Keywords
COVID-19 Turismo sustentável Açores Residentes Empresas de turismo Sustainable tourism Azores Residents Tourism companies