COPING AND ADAPTING TO CRISIS: RESILIENCE IN TOURISM HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore how higher education institutions (HEIs) adapted and modified their strategies to successfully cope with and overcome the lockdown crisis due to COVID-19. It also aims to evaluate their resilience, defined as the ability to adapt and recover from adversity by developing social and academic capabilities in response to extreme stress, in this case, caused by the pandemic. A survey was conducted in 18 countries and 162 universities in the Latin American and Caribbean region, specifically in tourism and hospitality schools, to understand the resilience process developed by HEIs during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 260 responses were collected. HEIs reacted to the contingency by rapidly adapting their teaching, administration, and evaluation processes to a remote mode. The vulnerability of the teaching-learning process was due to the lack of both student connectivity and teachers’ technological skills, which were two significant obstacles to academic continuity.