Economic Perspectives on Tourism

This chapter examines some of the issues in the economics of tourism that have gained the attention of scholars, industry representatives and policymakers in recent times. This includes tourism consumption, seasonality, optimising the economic returns from tourism, minimising the undesired economic aspects of tourism, over-tourism, and the use of econometric techniques required to analyse strategies aimed to achieve these goals. In 2020, the emergent COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the world economy to an extent not seen since the end of World War II. Border closures, lockdowns, supply chain disruptions and other events had a destructive impact on many sectors of the world's economies, but the impact on tourism has been especially significant. The decades long growth in this industry came to an abrupt halt, with many stakeholders in the tourism sector unsure how the industry will recover. While many governments have instituted various measures designed to minimise business failures and unemployment in the sector, the true long-term extent of the social and economic damage incurred is only likely to be seen once the pandemic is completely over and normalcy in economic life has resumed. The chapter concludes with an overview of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and some thoughts on the way forward for the time after the pandemic. This chapter will largely focus on international aspects of tourism, but reference to domestic tourism will be made where necessary.