Tracing the Impact Pathways of COVID-19 on Tourism and Developing Strategies for Resilience and Adaptation in Iran

Parvaneh Sobhani, Hadi Veisi, Hassan Esmaeilzadeh, Seyed Mohammad Moein Sadeghi, Marina Viorela Marcu and Isabelle D. Wolf
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Parvaneh Sobhani: Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 1983969411, Iran
Hadi Veisi: Department of Agroecology, Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 1983969411, Iran
Hassan Esmaeilzadeh: Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran 1983969411, Iran
Seyed Mohammad Moein Sadeghi: Department of Forest Engineering, Forest Management Planning and Terrestrial Measurements, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500123 Brasov, Romania
Marina Viorela Marcu: Department of Forest Engineering, Forest Management Planning and Terrestrial Measurements, Faculty of Silviculture and Forest Engineering, Transilvania University of Brasov, 500123 Brasov, Romania
Isabelle D. Wolf: Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space, School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: The COVID-19 epidemic has caused unprecedented impacts on the travel and tourism industry. The current study traced the impacts of COVID-19 on tourism in Iran using an “Impact Pathway (IP)” approach to identify impacts and possible mitigation strategies. The results illustrate two main impact pathways: negative impacts along the economic-institutional and socio-cultural dimensions, and positive impacts along the physical-environmental dimension. Using SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) and ANP (analytic network process) models, we identified defensive and review strategies as optimal for increasing resilience against the impacts of COVID-19. These strategies control the threats and weaknesses of negative impacts and enhance the opportunities and strengths emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic for tourism. We use this information to identify optimal strategies for dealing with the impacts of this crisis on tourism. Most prominently among them is the development of an integrated management system that improves the coordination of the response of local government to crisis and that better orchestrates the combined efforts and integration of non-governmental organizations.

Keywords: analytic network process; COVID-19; impacts pathway approach; integrated management system; SWOT; tourist (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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