Living in an untouchable world: Barriers to recreation and tourism for Portuguese blind people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic having affected the lives of all citizens, some groups, as people with disabilities (PwD), have felt its effects more intensely, specifically due to social distancing measures adopted. However, PwD are a heterogeneous group and the impacts of COVID-19 are, therefore, experienced differently. Blind people (BP) face considerable challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, since they "access the world" through touch, something strongly discouraged in order to control the spread of the virus. Nevertheless, no studies are known which analyze the constraints experienced by BP during COVID-19 on participating in recreation and tourism activities. To extend knowledge in this field, the intention of this study is to examine the constraints faced by BP during COVID-19 on participation in outdoor recreation and tourism activities and the strategies used to overcome these constraints. A qualitative methodology (in-depth interviews with BP) was used. The results reveal that during the COVID-19 pandemic, BP faced several constraints that made their participation in outdoor recreation and tourism activities difficult. The paper ends with a discussion of the strategies used by BP to overcome these constraints. Management implications: Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the recreation and tourism practices of blind people, and the constraints that they face as a consequence of this pandemic, this study provides relevant implications managers for public and private tourism supply agents. Therefore, managers and planners can use the findings of this study to design strategies to overcome the strong constraints faced by blind people due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to minimize risk exposure and to increase their quality of life. Thus, the type of activities offered and the marketing strategy should be rethought to increase the engagement of blind people in recreation and tourism experiences in an "untouchable world."

Air pollution and tourism growth relationship: exploring regional dynamics in five European countries through an EKC model.

The present study intends to explore the relationship between tourism growth and air pollution at a regional level for five important tourism European destinations: France, Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Italy. Most of the studies found in the literature examine this relationship on a national scale and focus only on the CO2 pollutant, which is a greenhouse gas but not a critical pollutant in terms of air quality and human exposure. This research focuses on a regional basis (NUTS 2 classification) and takes into account the main critical pollutants in terms of urban air pollution (namely: NOx, PM10, and PM2.5), and considers 10 years, from 2009 until 2018. This work aims to investigate evidence of a tourism-induced Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for the countries through the construction of five panels, one for each country, including different variables: the Gross Domestic Product, the energy consumption, and the number of nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments from both domestic and foreign tourists. The Levin-Lin-Chu unit root test proves the variables to be stationary, while the Pedroni cointegration test shows that they are integrated. The pooled OLS estimator is employed throughout the countries to check the relationship among the variables. Results reveal that the tourism-induced EKC hypothesis is not validated for any of the countries. The findings also show that in Portugal, Italy, and Greece, there is a negative relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution, while mixed evidence is found for France and Spain. Moreover, differences in the impacts of international and domestic tourists on air pollution are found: foreign tourists negatively impact emissions, while domestic ones increase them. This result is clear for Spain, Greece, and Italy. The Granger panel causality test is then conducted to see the causality among the variables.

The State of Web Accessibility for tourists with disabilities: a comparative study between different tourism supply agents.

PURPOSE: This study intends to examine the web accessibility of three tourism supply agents (hotels, travel agents and museums). The results obtained contribute to observing whether there are differences in levels of web accessibility among these tourism supply agents and, based on the problems identified, suggest strategies to overcome these problems. METHODS: To evaluate the level of web accessibility of tourism supply agents, two automatic online tools (AccessMonitor and TAW), which consider Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), version 2.0, were used. To identify differences among the supply tourism agents in terms of the level of web accessibility, statistical tests (ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis) were used. RESULTS: All the tourism supply agents analysed reveal considerable problems related to web accessibility. The perceivable and robust principles are the two principles of WGAG 2.0 with the greatest number of failures. However, differences among the supply agents analysed are observed. Museums present the highest level of web accessibility, while travel agents have the lowest. Therefore, it is necessary to implement improvements in tourism websites to overcome informational constraints that many people with disabilities (PwD) face in tourism activities. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the central role of the Internet for people with and without disabilities, this study highlights barriers that should be eliminated to facilitate the travel decision-making process, especially for PwD. Consequently, it can contribute to a greater number of people being able to participate in tourism activities, improving their well-being and rehabilitation.Implications for rehabilitationThe participation in tourism activities contributes to improve health, quality-of-life and well-being of all people.For people with disabilities (PwD) to be able to travel, without constraints, access to online information needs to be provided.The identification of the level of web accessibility of tourism supply agents provides important guidelines to improve the websites, facilitating the travel tourism planning of PwD.If informational barriers to access tourism activities are eliminated, the participation of PwD in tourism activities will tend to increase, and consequently improvements in their well-being, health and rehabilitation will happen.

Rural Ties and Consumption of Rural Provenance Food Products-Evidence from the Customers of Urban Specialty Stores in Portugal.

Consumers' food preferences increasingly meet concerns of authenticity, health, origin, and sustainability, altogether attributes embodied in rural provenance food products. The dynamics of production, commercialization, and availability of these products in urban centers are growing stronger. This study aims to explore rural provenance food consumption and underlying motivations, the consumers' images of products and provenance areas, and the influence of rural ties in consumption. Data from a survey directed to 1554 consumers of 24 urban specialty stores located in three Portuguese cities were analyzed. The analysis is based on the differences between frequent and sporadic consumers of Portuguese rural provenance food products. The two groups significantly differ in the reasons provided to acquire the products. Those who buy and consume these products more frequently especially value sensorial features, convenience, national provenance, and the impacts on rural development. Additionally, the motivations to choose rural provenance foods tend to pair with positive images of those products and of their territories of origin. This is intrinsically connected with familiarity, a nuclear notion that encompasses the symbolic images of the products and their origins as actual connections (familiar and otherwise) to rural contexts.

Atitudes em Relação às Pessoas com Deficiência: uma Revisão Sistemática da Literatura / Attitudes Towards People with Disabilities: a Systematic Literature Review

RESUMO: A área de investigação do turismo acessível (TA) apresenta uma tendência de crescimento. Contudo, a maioria dos estudos foca-se na acessibilidade física, havendo poucos que analisem as atitudes dos estudantes e profissionais desse setor relativamente às pessoas com deficiência (PcD). Assim sendo, esta revisão tem como objetivo analisar os trabalhos efetuados em outras áreas científicas sobre as atitudes relativamente às PcD. Pretende-se mapear metodologias, instrumentos de medição e principais variáveis e fatores associados às atitudes, para promover a sua inclusão na sociedade. Realizaram-se pesquisas na Scopus, tendo-se obtido 492 registos. Destes, foram selecionados 96 artigos para análise. Os resultados evidenciam que a avaliação das atitudes relativamente às PcD é uma temática de grande relevância em várias áreas científicas. Os estudos utilizam diversos instrumentos para medir essas atitudes. As experiências anteriores, qualidade e frequência do contato com PcD e conhecimento acerca da deficiência têm influência nas atitudes. Contudo, os resultados divergem na influência do perfil sociodemográfico nas atitudes face às PcD. Existe tendência para o recurso a metodologias quantitativas utilizando, como instrumento de recolha de dados, o questionário. O artigo termina identificando áreas de investigação relevantes para o aumento do conhecimento dos fatores que influenciam essas atitudes e, consequentemente, para o desenvolvimento do TA.

ABSTRACT: The investigation area of accessible tourism (AT) has a growing trend. However, most studies focus on physical accessibility, and only a few analyse the attitudes of students and professionals in this sector towards people with disabilities (PwD). This review aims to analyse the work carried out in other scientific areas on attitudes towards PwD. It is intended to map methodologies, measurement instruments and main variables and factors related with attitudes, to promote their inclusion in society. Research was carried out at Scopus and 492 records were obtained. Of these, 96 articles were selected for analysis. Results show that the assessment of attitudes towards PwD is a topic of great relevance in several scientific areas. Studies use several instruments to measure these attitudes. Previous experiences, quality, and frequency of contact with PwD and knowledge about disability have an influence on attitudes. However, results differ in the influence of the sociodemographic profile on attitudes towards PwD. There is a trend towards the use of quantitative methodologies, using the questionnaire as a tool for data collection. The article ends by identifying areas of research relevant to the increasing knowledge of the factors that influence these attitudes and, consequently, to the development of AT.