The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Tourism Sector in the Autonomous Region of Madeira

The highly regarded and award-winning tourism destination that is the autonomous region of Madeira (ARM), in the Madeira and Porto Santo islands, has suffered the consequences that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to tourism through the mobility limitations as well as the fear faced by travelers. From data collected on tourism, COVID-19, and demography in ARM from the years 2019 to 2020, this study makes use of data science techniques, including statistics, data mining, and data visualization, to analyze the direct and indirect effects of the coronavirus outbreak as well as the weight of population density in the propagation of the virus. The results validate a direct effect and show evidence of dense regions having aggravated virus propagation, but they do not corroborate the idea that an indirect effect was significant.