Restructuring Tourism Economies to face the ‘New Normal’: COVID19 and Alternative Tourism

Abstract

Abstract COVID19 has made a detrimental impact on tourism resources, tourism markets, and tourism economies. Thus, the purpose of this working paper is to make a realistic assessment of impacts of COVID19 on Sri Lanka tourism and to propose strategies to face the ‘new normal’ through alternative tourism. Government policy documents, industry reports, newspaper reports, opinions of industry stakeholders were primarily employed as inputs of this study. The analysis is based on pragmatic reasoning that delivers realistic implications to recover the tourism industry in Sri Lanka during the post-pandemic period.