The Resilience of Tourism Recreation Companies in a Pandemic Context: The Case of Canyoning in the Azores

Francisco Silva (), Tiago Lopes and Mário Silva
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Francisco Silva: Centre of Geographical Studies, Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território (IGOT), University of Lisbon, 1600-276 Lisbon, Portugal
Tiago Lopes: Centre of Geographical Studies, Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território (IGOT), University of Lisbon, 1600-276 Lisbon, Portugal
Mário Silva: Centre for Tourism Research Development and Innovation (CiTUR), Escola Superior de Hotelaria e Turismo do Estoril, 2769-510 Estoril, Portugal

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-11

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Azores; COVID-19; canyoning; entrepreneurship; resilience; tourism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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