Reflection on COVID-19 Pandemic and Crisis Management Models in Tourism

Abstract

The contemporary history of tourism has been shaken by different types of crises as natural disasters, economic crises, terrorist attacks and pandemics, resulting in economic, political and social implications that impact the tourist destination, the volume and direction of tourist flows (Ritchie, 2008; Speakman and Sharpley, 2012). In early 2020, COVID-19 took the world by surprise, causing a worldwide pandemic in just a few months. The dimension of this outbreak coupled to the mobility that characterizes tourism in the 21st century, now raises a need for reflection on the arrising and control of future pandemics.  Several models of crisis management in tourism are presented in the scientific literature, however, all of generalist nature. It is urgent to examine and refine the existing crisis management models, since the models already developed have little specificity in the theme of pandemic crisis management in tourism.