The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world brought the travel-intensive tourism industry to a complete standstill.
The pre-COVID-19 period was characterised by too many tourists, leading to fears of over-tourism in many destinations and the outbreak of the pandemic changed our lives forever.
The declaration of lockdowns reduced movement, negatively impacted tourism consumption, which is a service that must be simultaneously produced and consumed.
Members of the tourism value chain could therefore not produce services, and therefore unable to earn an income from sales. Tourism recovery was the top agenda in the tourism industry, as the tourism economy declined by nearly 80% due to the pandemic. Domestic tourism was gazed as a panacea for tourism recovery when international travel was not permitted.
Domestic tourism has remained a necessary but not a sufficient condition for recovery as international visitors are important for a robust tourism industry.
In the context of…