Agro-tourism Structures, SARS-CoV-2: the Role of Water

¹ University of Trento, Department of Civil Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, via Mesiano 77, Trento, Italy
² Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, 4 Emil Cioran Street, Sibiu, Romania
³ Politehnica University of Bucharest, Department of Energy Production and Use, Splaiul Independenței 313, Bucharest, Romania
⁴ Ural Federal University, Department of Environmental Economics Mira-str., 19, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation
⁵ Insubria University, Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, via G.B. Vico, 46, Varese, Italy

^* Corresponding author: marco.schiavon@unitn.it

Abstract

The agro-tourism environmental sustainability and its circular economy approaches represent the keys for the future development of the sector and in term of tourist presences, thanks to their growing attractivity. Water is one of the most used inputs in agro-tourism structures for internal (drinking, cooking, cleaning, etc.) and outdoor use (for agriculture and green areas management). In the scientific literature, the outdoor water use was more studied with regard the agro-tourism structures. The aim of the present paper is first to check and understand how the water consumption of an agro-tourism structure is managed and to propose solutions for its reduction, all in agreement with circular economy concepts, considering also the SARS-CoV-2 issue. Also, the role of tourists in helping, respect the rules and complying with the proposed solutions will be considered. The results demonstrate that a proper maintenance can be obtained by simply introducing simplified devices. Moreover, a key factor is the tourist information at agro-tourism structures. With a technological effort, water can be managed to favour reuse (e.g. grey water).