Abstract
The pandemic caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (associated to the disease named COVID-19) is having a global impact that affects health, the economy and the environment. These impacts are negative in most of the sectors but benefits also occurred in specific fields. Tourism was one of the most negatively affected economic sectors, and in terms of benefits, the improvement of air quality can be highlighted, with positive health implications. This paper aims to evaluate the impacts on these two particular fields—tourism and air quality—focusing on Portugal due to the relevance of tourism in the country. The research carried out in this paper enables us to find the most critical areas and identifies lessons learnt and recommendations for the post-COVID period. Tourism and air quality data were collected for both 2019 and 2020 and compared in terms of quantitative and spatial analysis. The Lisbon metropolitan area—the geographical area where the capital of the country is located—was the area that suffered the most negative impacts in terms of tourism activity but was also the one where highest benefits in terms of air pollution reduction and human exposure were felt. Recommendations for future strategies are suggested, including new concepts of tourism connected to the environment; the investment in online/virtual tourism activities; promotion of the domestic market; mitigation of the over-tourism problem and using environmental issues, such as air quality, as new attractiveness criteria for tourism destinations.
Highlights
IntroductionThere is evidence that tourism has been one of the industries most affected by COVID-19 [2]
Bebe analyzed taking intointo account the assumptions conHowever,these theseresults resultsshould should analyzed taking account the assumptions sidered, in particular that that the concentration levels measured at the stations are considered, in particular the concentration levels measured at air thequality air quality stations are representative of the population exposed in a particular area
Only mortality was used as an indicator, but a wide range of morbidities has been associated with air pollution exposure
Summary
There is evidence that tourism has been one of the industries most affected by COVID-19 [2] This pandemic profoundly changed the evolution trends of tourism, both due to the strategies adopted to prevent the spread of the disease, such as lockdown measures and border closures [3], people’s fear of taking risks by traveling [4], or even due to the decrease in the purchasing power of the population [2,5,6]. This scenario provoked a decline in tourism
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