This chapter aims to address two main themes and their possible articulation. The first explores the management of products and destinations strictly associated with nature-based tourism. The second is associated with creative and smart tourism. The connection of these two themes represents an innovative approach considering that both smart and creative tourism are closely linked to smart cities concept and urban spaces, while there is still no widespread application to other territories. The application of creative and smart tourism principles to new realities as nature-based tourism is assumed as a new challenge that requires well supported evidence and the development of sustained approaches.
Recent decades have revealed profound changes in population leisure paradigms, strengthening social representations attributed to the enjoyment of natural spaces and leading to the growth of informed, demanding, and conscious visitors. Responsible nature tourism assumes a continuous growth in tourism destinations and their marketing strategies. Without the attractiveness of the hot-water islands, the Azores follow a development model towards differentiation factors based on the quality and notoriety of the destination privileging, among others, specialized markets anchored in this territory's main resources and potentialities. The current expression of whale watching in these islands, assumed as one of the main representations of nautical tourism in the region, seems to raise important questions about the real impacts of its practice. This chapter proposes to synthesize this segment as a case study, presenting a successful and recurrent sustainable product and several valorisation strategies to promote its responsible development.
Through empirical research conducted in a set of peri-urban natural areas in Portugal, this chapter relates specific features of pertinent management models employed in these territories, as well as the insights and feedback of their visitors. This approach identifies a set of interventions within nature tourism planning and management which appear to contribute to boosting the resilience, competitiveness and sustainability of these areas.
Despite being opposite geographic regions, inland territories and small islands have very much in common in terms of economic and social constraints. Based on the case study of the Azores archipelago, the limitations and opportunities for tourism development in the small oceanic islands are analysed. This study is supported by empirical research involving the application of questionnaires to the main tourism stakeholders in the archipelago. The results lead to the conclusion that in the case of the group of small temperate islands, tourism has progressively asserted itself as strategic for the local economy, but the application of a sustainable development model must be considered as these territories are generally highly vulnerable, both environmentally and socially.
Coasteering is a recent nautical, nature, and adventure tourism activity with prospects for both services providers and regions of practice. In coastal settings with promising natural features, coasteering allows diversifying the supply of activities and experiences with large emotional value. Knowledge about this product, together with key aspects for structuring the tourist experience and its commercialization, are relevant to regions where coasteering can add value for both tourism and leisure. The main objectives of this chapter are to characterize coasteering and to analyze its potential as a tourism product. The analysis of cases in the United Kingdom and in Portugal supports the definition of proposals for the evaluation of this product in diverse coastal settings in these countries.
This research aims to study the role of the local accommodation establishments (EAL) in the development of Lisbon's historic district by matching fundamental features linked to its tourist attraction with the dynamics associated to the residential function of the city such as its services, urban rehabilitation, and living experiences. Empirical analysis was applied using a qualitative approach with interviews to specialists on tourism management and to residents. This research shows changes occurring in social and commercial environment of Santa Maria Maior parish are not only caused by EAL activity. The aim is to present contributions to the definition of a more sustainable EAL management model in Lisbon. Findings show that stakeholder input can improve the balance and sustainability of both touristic and residential functions. Results of this research show that there is no agreement between the stakeholders in terms of regulatory and inspection measures. Nevertheless, stakeholders gave valuable feedback, and a summary of proposals was drawn to improve EAL supervision in Lisbon.
The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on the tourism sector. Economies with a large weight of external tourism were especially affected, as was the case with the Azores region. This paper aims to analyse the level of this crisis and the resilience of tourism recreation companies specializing in canyoning in the Azores region, and whether these reactions led to more sustainable business models. The adopted methodology considered the analysis of recent statistical data on tourism and the available information on COVID-19 pandemic-related impacts. In parallel, questionnaires were applied to all tourism recreation companies in Portugal, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with all the canyoning providers in the Azores region. Results show that all companies survived the crisis, and some have made significant changes to their business models. Furthermore, some degree of success was observed in how services adapted to new demand characteristics, given the small size of most of these businesses and the specialization of their products.
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