The Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on Camping Tourism in Spain: A Spatial Approach to Tourist Destinations

Abstract

The COVID-19 health crisis has wreaked devastation on the world economy, especially on the tourism sector. The camping sector has been little studied despite its high economic impact and participation rate. Moreover, the observable effects of phenomena such as the COVID-19 pandemic have received little research attention. Consequently, the objective of this paper is therefore to analyse the effects of the pandemic on camping tourism by characterising the factors that determine it. The study is carried out by providing a geographical perspective of the sector by tourist areas, whereby two types of tourist destinations are considered: campsites located in coastal areas, and campsites located in natural areas. This is the main contribution of the work, as the proposed geographical analysis studies smaller territorial units than those usually used in tourism research. For the study, Multivariate Analysis techniques are applied, specifically Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis. The results show that there is a balance between supply and demand in the sector, with a significant economic impact, especially on employment and the performance of the sector. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to nature tourism gaining greater popularity, and shows an evolution in travellers' preferences for tourist destinations in favour of campsites located in natural areas over those located in coastal destinations. The geographical location of the tourist destination, therefore, plays a key role in the characterisation of Spanish campsites. This has practical implications for both camping companies and institutions, as the fact that some areas are more attractive than others is a decisive factor in deciding on the location of new campsites.