Rethinking Tourism Under the Pandemic Lens: The Focus on Sustainability Issues

Abstract

Purpose – The main purpose of this research is to investigate the current state of the art of tourism and sustainability-related discussions and find out what could be possible ways and research potentials in the context of the global pandemic and future similar health emergencies. Methodology – We conducted a content-analysis based literature review, analyzing key findings of previous studies in the field, aiming to propose future research lines. Findings – The negative impacts brought about by the pandemic have induced worldwide prevention measures in controlling the diffusion of COVID-19. Recovery strategies and business reconstructions have aroused main attention in tourism-related subsectors, especially for the most suffering industries like hospitality and transportation, in the pursuit of a sustainable system and resolution of realistic problems as over-tourism, job insecurity, tourist trustfulness and revisitation, and stakeholder wellbeing. Tourism practitioners are also faced with intractable socio-cultural issues, like unemployment problems, indecent jobs, racial and cultural discrimination and loss of customer trust. The utilization of new technologies is expected to provide vital guidance for the improvement of decision-making and strategic planning in the acceleration of tourism resilience by fulfilling tourist experiences and promoting local destination management when the pandemic comes to a stabilization. Contribution – This article contributes to enriching the existing literature in tourism sustainability studies, highlighting the current academic interests in tourism resilience and tourism sustainable transformation, especially in the face of the global severe health crises like the COVID-19. It also provides implications for future researchers, tourism practitioners and local destinations in finding possible way-out, research and investment potentials in the resolution of social problems, improvement of satisfied tourism experience and responsible destination marketing, governance and long-term local development.