Sustainable Tourism After COVID-19: Insights and Recommendations for Asia and the Pacific

By Asian Development Bank

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has devastated tourism in Asia and the Pacific, exposing the region’s dependence on the sector. This publication examines the prepandemic tourism system, the impacts of COVID-19, and how tourism in the region might be reset to contribute more effectively to the Sustainable Development Goals. It highlights six pathways for promoting systemic change in the sector: a value-driven approach, decarbonization, tourism-led regeneration, improved governance, and sustainable finance. It provides concrete recommendations on how policymakers and industry stakeholders can leverage tourism to foster sustainable development and a green recovery in Asia and the Pacific.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Dec 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9789292692575

Book preview

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AFTER COVID-19

INSIGHTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

DECEMBER 2021

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2021 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2021.

ISBN 978-92-9269-256-8 (print); 978-92-9269-257-5 (electronic); 978-92-9269-258-2 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. TCS210510

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS210510

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In this publication, $ refers to United States dollars.

On the cover: Sustainable Tourism is tourism which supports the achievement of sustainable development goals, revives the environment and helps communities thrive. It involves a complex web of stakeholders, economic sectors, destinations and communities. Positive trends in tourism include greater support for destination stewardship driven by the local community.

Cover design by Michael Cortes.

Contents

Tables, Figures, and Boxes

Foreword

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has wrought unprecedented devastation on tourism in Asia and the Pacific. Tourism arrivals fell by 84% in 2020 compared to 2019, making it the worst affected region in the world. Countries heavily dependent on tourism also experienced the largest fall in economic output. This abrupt drop demonstrated the importance of tourism for the region, but also placed a spotlight on its negative impacts. Decreased economic activity—including tourism—resulted in the largest annual reduction in CO2 emissions in more than 70 years, for example. Furthermore, natural sites suffering from overtourism prior to the pandemic started to recover.

As a result of this historic shock, host communities, national governments, and tourism operators have started to engage in discussions on how to rebuild the sector to make it more resilient to shocks and with greater respect for ecological boundaries. At the same time, tourists themselves have developed a new appreciation for the importance of ensuring that tourism is sustainable and beneficial for all stakeholders. Consequently, there is now a unique window of opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned in the last 2 years and put in place reforms that enable tourism to contribute to more green, resilient, inclusive, and sustainable development pathways.

It has become clear that the road to tourism recovery will be longer and with greater twists and turns than imagined at the beginning of the pandemic. New variants of COVID-19 and challenges in accessing and administering vaccinations mean national governments and tourism operators are dealing with multiple cycles of opening and locking down. A full recovery of the tourism sector to prepandemic levels is not expected any time soon.

The difficult recovery from the pandemic is compounded by another problem. Countries in Asia and the Pacific must contend with the worsening impacts of the climate crisis. Consequently, it is critical that assistance measures and policies, which seek to reduce the economic impact of the pandemic, also create incentives and opportunities for a positive transformation in tourism. For example, employment support programs can be linked to the training of tourism workers to improve their digital technology skills or their capacity to deal with disaster situations. The region should not seek to "build back better but rather to build forward better."

Looking ahead, national governments need to create an enabling environment for tourism industries that focuses on quality rather than quantity. This can be achieved by building governance structures that allow for genuine partnerships with host communities. They can also encourage sustainable businesses with incubator schemes or certification programs.

It is also important that tourism destinations improve their resilience by diversifying their tourism markets. In many places in Asia and the Pacific, this will mean marketing and developing products for domestic tourism. It also means that investments in tourism infrastructure such as hotels and conference centers should be designed to be multipurpose and adaptable to changing requirements.

To finance a positive transformation of tourism, new revenue sources will be needed. Levying bed taxes or entry costs to individual attractions can help raise revenues locally. At the national level, green bonds for tourism provide a growing opportunity. Risk sharing mechanisms can also help by encouraging private investment in sustainable tourism projects.

This report examines trends, dynamics, vulnerabilities, and opportunities associated with tourism development and how the sector has been impacted by COVID-19. It offers concrete recommendations to policymakers and industry stakeholders in developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). These recommendations look at how governments can initiate the recovery of tourism industries and how to leverage tourism to foster sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. ADB has a long history of support—both direct and indirect—to tourism industries in its DMCs. The bank supports the financing of critical infrastructure, investments in tourism enterprises, and regional collaboration on cross-border tourism. In this very challenging and transformative time for the tourism industry, ADB stands ready to support its DMCs to provide financial help as well as technical knowledge to transform this crisis into an opportunity.

Bambang Susantono

Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development

Asian Development Bank

Acknowledgments

This publication was jointly produced two teams at the Asian Development Bank (ADB): the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division (ERCI) of the Economic Research and Regional Department (ERCD) and the Regional Cooperation and Integration Thematic Group (RCI-TG) of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC). It was supported by ADB under the Knowledge and Support Technical Assistance (TA) project 6628: Promoting Innovations in Regional Cooperation and Integration in the Aftermath of COVID-19. This TA support included financing from the Asia Regional Trade and Connectivity Fund established by the United Kingdom (UK) under the Regional Cooperation and Integration Financing Partnership Facility.

Anna Fink, Economist (Regional Cooperation), SDCC, and Matthias Helble, Senior Economist (ERCI), jointly led the effort to