Indirect Effects on Tourism and Water Quality along the

SPETTER, CARLA V.; FERNÁNDEZ ELEONORA; ABASTO BENJAMIM; SPEAKE M. DE LOS ANGELES; CARBONE ELIZABETH; JOHN EDISON GARZON-CARDONA; FERN�EZ SEVERINI, MELISA D.; MARTINEZ, A.M.

JOURNAL OF COASTAL RESEARCH

COASTAL EDUCATION & RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Lugar: Florida; Año: 2023

0749-0208

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forcedgovernments to make drastic decisions, mainly about isolation and socialdistance. In 2020, the lockdown in Argentina lasted 37 days in the entirenational territory and up to 280 days in some jurisdictions. The tourismactivity at the beginning of the summer season raised questions regarding theinflux of tourists and the impact of new Security measures on the environment.In this work, different probable scenarios are discussed, including a pandemicexpected before the summer season, what eventually happened, and how it couldhave impacted tourism and the water quality of the Argentine Atlantic Coast. Asurvey was carried out via Google during October–November 2020. The data(2017–2021) on tourist influx statistics for eight coastal destinations wereanalyzed. A literature review (2020–2022) was carried out, and the probableloads of nutrients, organic compounds, emergent contaminants, and other solidwastes (such as plastics) were evaluated. The results showed that the neutralscenario was the predominant one. Despite the decrease in the arrival oftourists to the Argentine Atlantic  coastaldestinations studied, there was a disposition of the population to travel and astrong preference for sun-and-beach tourism compared to other touristmodalities. In a pandemic scenario, the concern in coastal management iscentered on the need to adapt wastewater treatment plants in coastal touristareas to minimize the impact of liquid effluents as well as the proper managementof urban solid waste. In addition, a set of potentially useful strategies forglobal environmental sustainability is proposed.