Book Title: Innovative Approaches in Multidisciplinary Research and Development (IAMRD)
Chief Editors: Dr. Anil Kashinath Salunke and Dr. Rituraj Pant
Associate Editors: Prof. (Dr.) Sourav Madhur Dey and Dr. Amrutha Satheesan
Co-Editors: Dr. Souvik Sur and Dr. Phakir Singh
ISBN: 978-93-7183-004-1
Chapter: 14
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59646/708/14
Author: Dr. N. Thyagaraju
Abstract
COVID-19 has also redefined the tourism landscape globally, and is changing the way tourism is planned and developed in various tourism destinations. The research paper examines the role of sustainable tourism development in the recovery of post-pandemic destinations, the comparative recovery trends, environmental sustainability practices and the role of the community in rural and urban tourism areas. The research is conducted as a mixed-method design which includes the combination of quantitative information on the tourism recovery statistics, tourist numbers and sustainability indicators, and qualitative data from structured interviews with tourism actors and secondary cases studies. The findings show that the extent of sustainable tourism development is quite different, with urban and major tourist destinations being more sustainable, having better infrastructure, governance systems and technological readiness for the tourism recovery and sustainable tourism development, while rural and emerging destinations have a lot of challenges, including lack of funding, weak infrastructure, lack of adoption of digital technologies, and lack of sustainability planning. Despite these challenges, sustainable tourism has brought several benefits which have contributed to environmental conservation, cultural preservation, and the promotion of sustainable livelihoods in remote communities through the practice of eco-tourism and responsible tourism, as well as community-based tourism models. Furthermore, the type of tourism behaviour shows a balance between benefits and values, with the advantages of environmental awareness and health safety being the most appreciated by the post-pandemic travellers, and the advantages of being authentic or affordable being the most appreciated by rural destinations, despite infrastructure related disadvantages. The paper also details the policy support and strategic approaches that could help close the rural-urban gap: investments in sustainable tourism infrastructure; training and development of local communities; marketing of digital tourism products; and introducing more robust policies on environmental protection and destination management. By highlighting the diversity in the sustainable tourism development based on geographical environments, this study shows that tourism recovery can be more resilient and responsible, considering the principles of equity, sustainability and long term destination resilience in post-pandemic systems.
Keywords: Sustainable tourism, post-pandemic tourism, tourism recovery, rural tourism, urban tourism, eco-tourism, community-based tourism, tourism sustainability, destination management, tourism development