Assessing the impacts of wildfires on society: a case study of the risk perception in a natural park

Abstract

A mega fire is a transversal problem to several fields, with impacts from the Earth’s atmosphere to human health and safety, quality of life and economic growth in affected areas. The tourism sector is susceptible to the impacts of these events, which cause unexpected disruptions on tourism flows and changes in the image of the tourism destination. The present study is developed under the FIREPOCTEP project (www.firepoctep.eu) framework, namely about the impact of forest fires on society. Therefore, the study aims to explore the fire risk perception and their impacts by considering the territorial management entities and the tourism agents of the Vale do Guadiana Nature Park (PNVG). The first part is based on the characterization and identification of significant fires in the PNVG. Then, the study focuses on the identification of the tourism system elements that interact in the PNVG. Finally, a survey in form of a questionnaire is conducted to collect data. The qualitative and quantitative analysis have been performed to examine the experience of each territorial management entities and tourism agents in the PNVG, the later by applying methodologies as 5-point Likert scale and the Tourism Recovery Scorecard (TOURS), suggested by Khazai, Mahdavian and Platt (2018). In general, the study has shown the risk perception of the operators and helped to identify strategies of the entities responsible for the co-management of the PNVG in order to mitigate the occurrence of forest fires. Also, the questionnaire helped to assess the impact of the 2007 fires on the PNVG.