Beachgoer perceptions on health regulations of COVID-19 in two popular beaches on the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

The sandy beaches of the Brazilian Amazon coast have enormous touristic potential and attract thousands of visitors each year, principally in July, at the beginning of the summer vacation period. In 2020, beach going was affected worldwide by the Covid-19 pandemic, but how did the pandemic affect recreational beach use on the Amazon coast in the Brazilian state of Pará? Given this, the objective of this work is to identify public perception in compliance with health safety established by authorities due to COVID-19 pandemic in two popular beaches on the Brazilian Amazon. Recreational patterns on the beaches of this region were analyzed from the user's perspective in July, through semi-structured interviews and direct observations. Recreational activities were prohibited on the beaches located within protected areas. At other locations, however, including Ajuruteua and Atalaia, the beaches were reopened on July 1 st, and both sites received thousands of visitors in July, despite the fact that interviewees believed the pandemic to be dangerous, and considered the situation in Pará state to be at least as bad or worse than in previous months. Agglomerations were verified on both study beaches and social distancing and other protective measures were limited. The increase in the new cases recorded in August was due to the relaxation of restrictions on social, recreational, and economic activities by the local authorities in July 2020, including the reopening of public access to beaches. As Pará state has been hard-hit by the pandemic, prohibitions on recreational beach use should clearly not have been lifted during this period. A number of management measures were presented in this study. These measures should contribute to the prevention of the spread of the virus during the upcoming public holidays, as long as the pandemic continues.

COVID-19 Impacts on Beaches and Coastal Water Pollution at Selected Sites in Ecuador, and Management Proposals Post-pandemic

“…For the first occasion in modern times, most of the coastline studied has developed features of marine protected areas. Recent reports from the southeast coast of India (Prakash et al, 2021) and in Brazil (Pereira et al, 2021) contain similar findings to those here.…”

Beach tourists behavior and beach management strategy under the ongoing prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of Qingdao, China

“… Zielinski and Botero (2020) concluded that besides the cultural factors, tourists may underestimate the risk of tourism after the pandemic due to voluntary nature to taking the risk, optimistic bias, social amplification effect, lack of reliable information, and lack of relevant experience. Pereira et al (2021) identified beach tourists’ perception on health regulations of the COVID-19 in two beaches on Brazilian Amazon. Carvache-Franco et al (2021) analyzed the tourism labels on Twitter about coastal tourism and marine tourism during the pandemic, and pointed out that “escape” and “sunshine and beach” were the main travel motivations.…”

Has the COVID-19 pandemic led to permanent persistent changes in recreational activity? A case study of a municipal beach

“…These findings can be used to formulate recommendations for managers of municipal beaches. By introducing sanitary measures, recreational facilities could improve public perceptions of safety, attract more visitors and aid financial recovery from the pandemic (Milanes et al, 2021;Pereira et al, 2021).…”