Reviving Tourism post-COVID-19

Opportunities for Addressing Issues and Sustainability in Gunungkidul Cases

Resumo

The risk of non-natural disasters such as the 2019 Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) affecting tourism is perceived as a prolonged crisis, and many countries are not prepared to respond quickly. This perception creates new symptoms in the process of reviving tourism areas affected by the mobility restriction policy. There are many who have failed in the process of recovering the tourism sector, because the mechanism for solving the COVID-19 crisis that was formulated is only temporary. On this basis, this study attempts to analyze how the local government of Gunungkidul responded post-COVID-19 to restore the tourism sector. The research findings show that the local government is focused on solving two main issues: health protocols to provide comfort and safety for visitors and social care as a community strategy to quickly get up from adversity. Empirically, the policy is able to reduce cases of the spread of COVID-19, and simultaneously has become a means to increase the productivity of local people who make the tourism sector their main job. As unique from other studies, it turns out that the process of revitalizing tourism does not occur due to a single factor, namely policy formulation. But far from that, the existing social capital—social safety net, collaboration, and village funds—becomes a force to quickly rise from a crisis. The weakness of this study lies in the regulatory format presented by the local government which is only short- and mid-term. The researcher recommends to study more deeply about the long-term policy format as an alternative means of strengthening tourism for sustainable development. At the same time, long-term policies can also be an alternative means for local communities to avoid shock and be prepared to face similar crises in the future.