Abstract
Abstract Critical thoughts about tourist destinations overcoming and mitigating impacts from COVID-19 lie in the opportunities created by the pandemic. In this paper, an innovative way to attract tourists to Madeira Island and specifically for the Caminho Real (CR) is proposed, assisted by augmented reality. There are important considerations for developing software suitable for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets; values and benefits for sustainable tourism development and for being an educational experience respecting social distancing; and services included in the augmented reality application. Therefore, some propositions are presented to evaluate the possibility of augmented reality as a secure opportunity to show historical, cultural, and ethnographic aspects when visiting a tourist destination, while respecting social-distancing constraints.
Highlights
In 2020, the world faced a new pandemic affecting every sector of economic activity as well as social aspects
The CRs built during the monarchy in Portugal are freely accessible, and it is the Associação do Caminho Real da Madeira (ACRM), together with local institutions, which is making efforts to recover the routes, making the population and tourists aware of the need to preserve such infrastructures, as well as its role in the recent past
Users will be able to have an overview of what was already accomplished, such as distances, heights, calories, trekking times, which points of interest (POIs) were seen, what multimedia was visualized, what was shared via email or social networks, and what contents were shared in a collaborative system
Summary
In 2020, the world faced a new pandemic affecting every sector of economic activity as well as social aspects. Due to public health concerns, or as a precaution, restrictions were imposed and economic activities that were crucial to the survival of populations, and those that allow remote work especially were maintained throughout the pandemic. A tourist destination like Madeira depends so much on tourism that it stands out as an economic activity. It is difficult to outline recovery scenarios from COVID-19, the pandemic can be considered a window of opportunity to reactivate a tourist destination through product innovation, the requalification of people, infrastructure, and entrepreneurship. Is a safe way for tourists to visit new places while abiding by COVID-19 restrictions, such as the social distancing
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