ABSTRACT
As the world moves towards the ‘next normal’ of an ongoing pandemic, recovery plans of several tourism destinations are still not yielding desired results. Globally, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed long-standing structural weaknesses and gaps in tourism policy measures. To further complicate the process, destinations and segments of the tourism sector are re-opening and recovering at different speeds, and this is impacting on the global economy, as tourism is a multi-sectoral business. This is a grave concern, as due to lockdown and travel constraints, field research and the collection of data in order to formulate appropriate tourism policies have not been possible. In this case, evidence-based policy is seen as a viable option to help destinations still struggling with the pandemic. It is important to document current trends and understand future tendencies in order to be able to develop coping capacities. Against this background, the aim of this chapter is to examine tourism policies adopted by tourism destinations following the pandemic. From a methodological point of view, collective case designs are chosen as these are widely used in tourism studies when it is not possible to separate the phenomenon being studied from its context. Drawing from 15 global case studies, this chapter proposes a synthesis of evidence-based tourism policies embraced by tourism destinations. Findings show that the crisis is an opportunity to rethink the tourism system; the COVID-19 pandemic is not solely a tourism issue. Rather, it is a health issue requiring whole-of-destination policies, including health and other sectors of the economy. Rebuilding tourism requires collective effort, global solidarity, and, more importantly, tourism policies that address structural weaknesses, advance key socio-economic priorities and take advantage of new opportunities. Information derived from the case studies is helpful to destination managers, policy makers and other tourism stakeholders interested to implement tourism policies that are tested and trusted in a pandemic context.
