Most Pacific islands and island states have sought expanded international tourism development.
Tourism generates employment, partly through a considerable informal sector, yet local economic linkages are hard to generate on islands.
The impact of the collapse in the Pacific island states of Vanuatu and Samoa, both with economies heavily dependent on tourism, has led to the question of whether COVID-19 brought about the demise of island tourism.
Complex questions are being raised over the duration of the crisis, and over self-reliance, diversification, sustainability, the future of tourism, the potential for a ‘new normal’ and therefore of development in small island states.
A paper written by John Connell and Tautalaaso Taulealo and published on Small States and Territories, the academic journal hosted by the Islands and Small States Institute, explores all of the above in a journal titled ‘Island Tourism and COVID-19 in Vanuatu and Samoa: An Unfolding Crisis’.
The full article may be accessed online.
