The Rise of Domestic Tourism and Non-travelling in the Times of COVID-19

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to present this new Special Issue of Sustainability.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought international tourism almost to a standstill worldwide. In many countries, the recovery process after the complete lockdown is characterized by an (initial) rise of domestic tourism. Tourism researchers claim that post-COVID-19 tourism will be different from that before the crisis. It is assumed that travel behavior will change in the long term (e.g., choice of destination) and the hope is that tourism will develop towards a more sustainable tourism. 

But, is that really the case? What are the short- and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on tourist behavior? Will domestic tourism be strengthened by the crisis? If so, what does this mean for the development of sustainable tourism?  

In order to get a deeper insight into these issues, this Special Issue of Sustainability calls for the submission of papers analyzing questions related to the following topics:

• Changes in tourist flows from international to domestic tourism;
• COVID-19 as a chance for domestic tourism: rebranding of the “local” as a tourist destination;
• COVID-19 as a chance for recovery from overtourism;
• Challenges of diverting international tourism flows to national and/or rural destinations;
• Critical evaluation of the sustainability of domestic tourism;
• Non-travel and staycation as new forms of tourism;
• Consequences of a decline in international tourist arrivals for developing countries;
• Environmental consequences of changes in tourist flows;
• “Reuse” of touristic infrastructure for local residents’ leisure activities.

Based on these general topics, we are seeking research papers that analyze the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for national and international tourism from a sustainability perspective. Papers using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to explore short-term as well as long-term consequences, proposing suggestions for recovery strategies to create a more sustainable tourism, expanding the conceptual knowledge, or detecting good practices from case studies are welcome. Papers can be theoretical-methodological or applied.

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Schmude
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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