Conclusions and Policy Recommendations: Building Back Better Global Tourism Systems Post-COVID-19

Abstract

The tourism industry remains one of the largest economic sectors in the world in terms of both employment creation and contribution to the global economy. However, the industry is sensitive to external shocks such as natural and/or human-induced disasters. This book documented the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global tourism industry. This chapter (also serving as a policy brief) presents emerging key findings and conclusions, as well as policy recommendations that are embedded within the Sendai Framework of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and management. Drawing from past disasters, the emphasis is placed on building back better (BBB) global tourism systems post-COVID-19. The decision to pivot the chapter on the DRR and management framework that embraces the BBB concept is informed by the inevitable new global normal. The new global normal is characterised by increasing and more intense disasters across all spatial levels, from a local to a global scale, which normally results in severe negative impacts on all economic sectors as experienced during the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019/2020. This orientation is further informed by the futuristic thinking that incorporates matters of building resilience and adaptation to disaster risks within the tourism industry. Therefore, the chapter provides the tourism industry and its key stakeholders with both immediate ideas for quick and big wins post-COVID-19 recovery pathways and future ideas to build resilience that permits adaptation of the tourism industry to future disasters. The development of globally accepted protocols enhancing health and safety, especially for the tourist and those working in the tourism and related industries, is recommended. Should these measures be fully upheld, then international travel, which is critical in the tourism sector, may resume sooner rather than later, with spill over effects on exciting domestic tourism too.