Strategies for beach management during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to study the policies developed by local authorities in Spain to provide a safe environment on beaches in order to identify the strategies behind as well as the measures applied to enforce them. Our results, based on a survey of over 200 municipalities responsible for the 646 beaches awarded an ecolabel certification, the Blue Flag, reveal that the policies revolve around three axes: beach organization, reduction of items that could be a source of risk, and reduction of some types of services.

KEYWORDS:

• Beach management
• COVID-19
• Spain
• Safety strategies
• Coastal tourism
• Events

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).