Conceptualizing Post-COVID 19 Tourism Recovery: A Three-Step Framework

ABSTRACT The hospitality, travel, tourism, and events industry remains one of the hardest-hit casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. This conceptual paper examines responses to COVID-19 by the government of Ghana and its implication for tourism businesses. It discusses weaknesses exposed, and lessons learned by practitioners because of COVID-19. The paper discusses the lack of a centralized database, lack of insurance, and insufficient financial reserves which have left the industry vulnerable in the wake of the pandemic. Based on these, the paper proposes that the Ghanaian tourism industry be sustained by the use of digitalization, social media, and a revived domestic tourism industry. The paper recommends a three-step recovery model based on the reinvention of domestic tourism and concludes by highlighting the possible transformation of the industry as well as the need for a concerted, all-encompassing effort by traditional and non-traditional stakeholders to ensure the recovery of the industry.