A Strategy for Tourism Growth, Rebound, and Revival: Promoting Portugal as a Destination Post-COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact around the world on health, economies, businesses, equality and the movement of people in the form of tourism. In this context, this paper looks at the strategy chosen by Turismo de Portugal to adapt to the crisis in a country where tourism plays an important role in supporting the local economy, having grown significantly since 2010. The chosen strategy encouraged tourists not to visit Portugal during the pandemic, a turnaround from their previous digital marketing strategy, which invited tourists to discover the country. We undertook a survey that had 170 answers, predominantly from Ecuador, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Portugal but also from several other countries in Europe and Latin America. We aimed to understand whether their strategy was successful in encouraging people to consider Portugal as a holiday destination post-COVID-19. The Can’t Skip Hope campaign was created in a work-from-home environment, with the voiceover recorded on a smartphone. Previously recorded footage was re-edited. Our survey found that respondents said the video matched their views of Portugal and that 79.5% would consider Portugal as a holiday destination when they next booked a holiday. In terms of inferential statistics, we performed chi-square tests of significance on the survey data. Thus, this paper contributes to the body of work because it offers insight into marketing strategy adaptation by a local tourist board during a period of crisis.