The Impact of Health and Wellness Tourism in the Regional Economy of Estrela UNESCO Global Geopark, Portugal
Margarida Mota (),
Paulo Nossa and
Claudete Oliveira Moreira
Additional contact information
Margarida Mota: University of Coimbra, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, 3004-530 Coimbra, Portugal
Paulo Nossa: University of Coimbra, CEGOT—Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, 3004-530 Coimbra, Portugal
Claudete Oliveira Moreira: University of Coimbra, CEGOT—Centre of Studies in Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, 3004-530 Coimbra, Portugal
Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 20, 1-29
Abstract:
Health and wellness tourism is currently an emerging tourist product in the Portuguese context, as it incorporates a great potential to adapt to the challenges that the present time imposes. Given the emergence of new strategies aimed at more sustainable tourism and community development, Serra da Estrela, a Portuguese mountain region classified as a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2020, has been the subject of studies about its tourism potential. Such studies aim to deconstruct the general perception, which prevailed for decades, of a tourist landscape closely related to snow as the main resource. At the same time, as Serra da Estrela represents a rural region in the interior of the national territory, it benefited from its attractiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, this research aims to study the importance that health and wellness tourism can have for the Estrela UNESCO Global Geopark in its impact on the regional economy. To this end, based on the study case, we analyze the thermal frequency in the resorts of the territory and indicators relating to tourist resorts with a spa component that exist in the region: accommodation capacity, the number of jobs, the number of overnight stays and the difference between TRevPAR and RevPAR. This research allows us to conclude that the thermal frequency has adapted to the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the analyzed tourist resorts show resilience in the face of external demand shocks.
Keywords: tourism economy; health and wellness; thermal springs; spa; Serra da Estrela; Portugal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/20/15151/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/20/15151/ (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:20:p:15151-:d:1265182
Access Statistics for this article
Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu
More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().