Strategies for Creative Tourism Activities in Pandemic Contexts: The Case of the ‘Saídas de Mestre’ Project

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 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.

Carrying capacity of mangrove ecotourism area in Pantai Indah Kapuk, North Jakarta, Indonesia

“…Third, implementing visitor restrictions and reservation systems offers a practical solution to manage visitor numbers, particularly for group travelers. The increased digital adaptability observed during the pandemic among the Indonesian populace presents an opportunity to integrate digital technologies into sustainable tourism planning (Marujo et al 2021). These technologies, including online ticket booking, not only streamline the ticketing process for visitors but also aid management in establishing visitor quotas, reducing crowding, and enhancing the overall comfort of travelers.…”

Tourism Sustainability and COVID-19 Pandemic: Is There a Positive Side?

“…One of the key efforts to foster safe corridors and sustainable tourism amid COVID-19 was the creation of a "travel bubble", an agreement between two or more neighboring countries to allow citizens to travel amongst themselves without quarantining [48]. Other efforts include the promotion of live streaming experiences [49], medical tourism [50], regional tourism [31], virtual tourism [50,51], staycation programs [52,53], "untact" tourism [54,55], and the expansion of creative tourism in rural areas within the purview of sustainable development [17] to mitigate the tremendous impacts of the pandemic on the global tourism industry.…”

“…In times of crisis, it became imperative for tourism businesses to develop strategic approaches that can spawn a competitive advantage and cover regional tourism [31]. Indeed, the pandemic made it essential for tourism to learn, reflect, and work under new circumstances within the framework of sustainable development [17]. Consequently, tourism stakeholders were required to contemplate various sustainability issues while determining the strategy for tourism development amid COVID-19 [12,56].…”

“…In fact, the likelihood of a more frequent incidence of such crises in the future [13] signals a need to rethink tourism sustainability in the light of major event crises such as COVID-19 [14,15]. Therefore, the advent of COVID-19 has once again raised the question of tourism sustainability before decision makers [7,[16][17][18]. Though large-scale vaccination across nations has led to the improvement of the situation, there is a significant need for sustainable practices to deal with the after-effects of the pandemic in the new normal.…”

“…The evolution of new forms of tourism, such as "untact" tourism, staycations, workcations, six-feet tourism, creative tourism, etc. [17,52,53,55] 15.…”