Sensitivity and vulnerability of international tourism by covid crisis: South America in context

Abstract

The aim of this research is to visualize those countries that would have the greatest impact in terms of sensitivity and vulnerability due to the drop in travels, as a product of the pandemic, with special emphasis on South America. For this, the participation of tourism in the economy of certain countries prior to the coronavirus crisis was measured by analysing three groups of countries: the ten most tourist countries in the world according to their receipts; countries whose economies are most dependent on tourism; and the twelve South American countries, contextualized through the other two groups. Thus, multiple combinations of high, low and medium sensitivity and vulnerability were identified for South American and for the countries with the highest absolute receipts from tourism, but an alarming scenario for the most dependent countries on international tourism, many of them small island countries in development (SIDS). Additionally, the ideas of low apparent sensitivity and that of low sensitivity due to role inversion offer new ways to interpret a low sensitivity. Likewise, and with respect to vulnerability, three possible stages of recovery of international tourism activity were noted.