Smart management of tourist coastal areas in a reborn tourism era : transitioning from safe to sustainable beaches within the Spanish sun and sand model

The aim of this work is the reconceptualisation of beaches as internal objects of smart tourist destinations and to offer a means to capitalize pandemic distintictives such as the Safe Tourism Certification (STC) on the physical pressure of the coastal tourist space to contribute to the natural recovery of these settings. The methodology of this work consisted of analyzing the spatial management of tourist coastal areas according to their congestion level before and after the implementation of the STC. The research technique used for data collection was an online survey with a sample of 64 certified Spanish beaches. One of the main findings of this work is that despite Spanish beaches holding several quality distinctives based on international standards, none of these distinctives guaranteed their decongestion with a minimum surface of 5 m2 per user in the sample, as literature suggests. Thus, the STC implementation and the efforts related to managing physical pressure on coastal resources show the main existing bottlenecks in the sun and sand destinations to transit from safe to physically and ecologically sustainable tourist coastal areas. Also, practical implications to Destination Management Organisations are shared regarding the transition from traditional to smart sun and sand destinations.