Social Impacts in a Coastal Tourism Destination: “Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic”

Social impacts and other types of impacts such as economic and environmental have been studied extensively in the tourism field. The main aim of this research is to understand the differences in the social impacts of tourism between summer 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and summer 2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic) in a coastal tourism destination from the visitors' perspective. Data were collected using surveys carried out in the municipality of Platja d'Aro (Catalonia, Spain) in 2019 (pre-pandemic) (n=468 visitors) and 2020 (during the pandemic) (n=394 visitors). The responses were categorised into two main groups: “strengths and weaknesses of the destination”, in order to understand the possible social impacts of tourism. Results show that visitor profile differed in terms of origin and age during the pandemic. The level of satisfaction with the destination remains similar despite the adverse scenario caused by the pandemic. Social impacts are identified and compared between the two periods. This information can be used by tourism destination policymakers to analyse differences in social impacts between pandemic and pre-pandemic periods.