(Dis)connected atmospheres: Tourist locations in dead zones in post-pandemic Portugal

How are Portuguese dead zones positioned as tourist locations to disconnect from digital media? In this chapter, I use the concept of atmosphere to explore how tourist dead zones contain different dimensions that work to restrain as well as foster connection: on the one hand, mindfulness, romanticism, and nostalgic elements to deter connectivity as ways of suspending the mediatised and accelerated everyday life, and on the other, social media promotion and expansion of digital connectivity during the Covid-19 pandemic. The chapter is based on a study conducted in Portugal in 2021–2022 under the DIS/CONNECT project, combining in loco and social media observation with interviews with promoters and visitors to five tourist locations in dead zones. The analysis highlights how, in the aftermath of the backlash and still under the transformation brought about by a global pandemic, dead-zone tourism stands at the intersection of offline, nature, and rural tourism, seeking an idealised individuality and selective sociability – and that the promise of disconnection tourism is only exceptionally embraced by a few tourists.