Assessing the economic and environmental consequences of the COVID-19 tourism collapse in Andalusia: what lessons can we draw for South-East Asian regions?

Abstract

This paper presents a simulation exercise undertaken with a newly available regional general equilibrium model for the Spanish region of Andalusia. The exercise is intended to assess the structural adjustment processes and impacts on the Andalusian economy directly induced by the dramatic fall in tourism expenditure which occurred in the year 2020, due to the prevention measures implemented because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also undertake a preliminary evaluation of the impact on some environmental indicators, such as greenhouse gases emissions and air pollutants. The key insight emerging from our analysis is that the COVID crumbling of tourism demand reduces the environmental pressure but also generates very relevant distributional consequences. We believe that these insights are not peculiar to Andalusia but could be extended to many other regions in the world, especially those similar in terms of magnitude of the shock, economic structure, and labor market. We illustrate the latter point by contrasting Andalusia with a set of South-East Asian countries.

Unpacking the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on regional mobility, economy, and sustainability: insights from Asia and beyond

“…The former has been tackled by Kim et al ( 2022b ) while the latter by Kwon et al ( 2022 ). Notably, the studies conducted by Kim et al ( 2022a ) and by Roson and van der Vorst ( 2022 ) are noteworthy for their focus on regional economics, which was the first-mentioned scope of this special issue. Both studies utilized computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling to analyze the topic.…”

“…A partial response to this request is the paper by Roson and van der Vorst ( 2022 ) titled “Assessing the economic and environmental consequences of the COVID-19 tourism collapse in Andalusia: What lessons can we draw for South-East Asian regions?” This study differs from Kim et al ( 2022a ) in that it employs CGE modeling at the micro level to analyze the regional economy of the tourism industry, rather than the national economy or the entire industry. Additionally, this study is unique in that it focuses on a region in Europe (Spain) to draw lessons for Southeast Asian regions, while all other studies in this special issue analyze the impact of COVID-19 in Asia.…”