Safety Seal Clean & Safe and Recovery of Tourism Marketing in the (Post) Pandemic Context

Abstract

Tourism is an activity heavily dependent on the movement of people and travel (with different motivations). As a result, tourism has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic since the beginning of 2020. The number of trips has dropped considerably across the world and particularly in Portugal. Considering the widespread concern in the resumption of economic and social activity as soon as the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic allows, Turismo de Portugal created a “Clean & Safe” seal of approval to distinguish tourist activities which are compliant with hygiene and cleaning requirements for the prevention and control of COVID-19 and other possible infections. This manuscript intends to understand the importance of the Safety Seal Clean & Safe in the recovery of tourism and in the consumer decision-making process, through a preliminary study with 87 participants (quantitative approach). Preliminary results demonstrate that Safety Seal Clean & Safe tends to influence feelings of safety and confidence regarding tourist travel. Future studies should deepen this debate, through interviews and focus groups with tourist consumers. From an interdisciplinary perspective, this manuscript presents inputs for marketing (i.e., consumer behavior), for tourism (i.e., management of tourism services), and for management in the pandemic context.