Tourism Crises Management and the Role of Governments: Post-COVID-19 Tourism and Government Interventions, Case Study of China

Anastasia Belashov & Anthony Ward, PdD.

Abstract

Tourism is one of the major industries but also is a vulnerable venture. Currently tourism is severally impacted by COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Pandemics are known to effect civilizations since the ancient times. Coronavirus pandemic is not the first one but so far, it is by far the greatest in its impact on economies, politics and other aspects of human life. Tourism is especially hurt since travel acts as a major vehicle for spreading the virus and thus, governments around the globe restrict tourism to prevent contamination. This study, conducted as a qualitative and descriptive research, investigates government’s role in crisis management in tourism. An overview of pandemics in historical perspective and government interventions in different crisis situations are included. COVID-19, as a global pandemic has been chosen as a cataclysm for the case study. We focus on China since the Chinese government has almost full control over every aspect of its citizens’ lives, including travel. Measures and regulations implemented by Chinese government to control COVID-19 spread including full shut down of  domestic, outbound and inbound tourism are studied through government issued posts and announcements, industry reports and Chinese media coverage. Current expansion of domestic tourism in China, future feasible scenarios for Chinese outbound and inbound travel and possible applications of Chinese experience for other countries are also discussed.