Sustainable recovery of tourism in the post-COVID-19 world: Advocacy for a Resource Nexus perspective

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic had unprecedented impacts on tourism worldwide, causing a major downturn in sectoral economic development and employment. Even though affected regions, businesses and customers are united in their hope of a rapid recovery, a return to business-as-usual is not desirable from an environmental perspective. The COVID-19 pandemic could, however, also be an opportunity for sustainability-oriented transformations in various segments of the tourist industry. A concept that has received growing attention in sustainability science and policy but that has not yet been applied to tourism may have a significant future potential here: the Resource Nexus. As a consistent and application-oriented framework for the integrated management of environmental resources, the Resource Nexus can be a model for advancing sustainability in tourism. Instead of looking at a single dimension only, the Resource Nexus considers environmental resources in a holistic way, including potential synergies and trade-offs between different development goals. This can ultimately support a transition not only to more sustainability, but also to greater resilience of the tourism sector against environmental changes.