Challenges on digital destination campaigns in tourism during Covid19 pandemic crisis: The case of Portugal National Tourism Authority

Abstract

The Covid19 pandemic crisis generated a succession of high socio-political and economic impacts that affected, almost homogeneously, the entire world. The tourism sector has been dramatically affected, and often suffering limitations with the purpose to solve the problem of the spread of the virus between regions/countries. In this article, the study conducted talks about the transformations in terms of digital communication in the Portuguese tourism sector and specifically evaluate the practical case of Portugal National Tourism Public Institute (the Governmental National Tourist Authority responsible for the promotion of tourist activity in Portugal) and the campaigns developed to raise consumer awareness.

The most impactful campaigns of Portugal National Tourism Authority in 2020 and 2021 were analyzed, mirroring the solutions found by it, in its digital communications. A qualitative study was carried out using the analysis of secondary data to achieve these goals. Finally, the article provides a new perspective on the impact of digital campaigns on the promotion of tourism destinations in such a difficult period identifying its success factors such as the emotional and hope messages. The results of this study show that Portugal National Tourism Authority developed an enormous effort to effectively communicate during the pandemic with innovative, emotional and well-written messages able to capture the attention and interest of visitors and tourists.