Development of Thermalism in Bahía Blanca (Argentina): An opportunity in the post COVID-19 context

GAMBAROTA, DANIELA MELISA; LONDON SILVIA

La Plata

Workshop; XIII Workshop on Tourism: Economics and Management. Tourist as Consumers, Visitors and Travelers; 2021

Facultad de Cs. Económicas de la Universidad Nacional de la Plata y Universidad de la República

At present, tourism is considered as a constituent part of the territories capable of supportingdevelopment processes. That is why, local spaces, in particular processes, so in particular, thelocal spaces take the initiative to place value on patrimonial resources with the objective toenergize their territories thanks to the increasing segmentation and widening of demand. Inaddition to the above, the irruption of COVID-19 has caused impacts on tourism and travelers,who modified their preferences and will surely continue to do so and look for new attributeswhen choosing a destination.The presence of a thermal resource in the city of Bahía Blanca is an opportunity in the currentadverse context left by the pandemic. The modality of health tourism, more precisely thethermalism, will probably be one of the most demanded options by tourists to relax anddisconnect after the long period of confinement and the measured adopted in Argentina, inparticular, to stop the expansion of the virus (Preventive and Compulsory Social Isolation,Argentine Decree 297/2020. DECNU-2020-297-APN-PTE) that has been passed in Argentinain particular.Methodologically, a bibliographic review of relevant concepts, a characterization, and ananalysis of the aforementioned locality were carried out to define what elements exist, evaluatethe strengths or distinctions it possesses in order to achieve a transformative territorial strategyin it. In the words of Madoery (2016: 10), "No matter how well designed a project is, it isuseless if it is not "situated" in the specific context of the actors of a territory and if it is notproperly supported by the relevant knowledge, in the territorial intelligence needed to guide thedevelopment process."In this way, Bahía Blanca has competitive advantages thanks to the presence of natural andcultural thermal heritage added to the tendency to choose destinations of proximity. Making useof them would allow this town not only to quickly return to tourism normality in the postpandemic context, but also to boost tourism resources that are currently underused.