Blue Ocean Tourism in Asia and the Pacific: Trends and Directions before the Coronavirus Crisis

Abstract

COVID-19 brought an abrupt end to buoyant cruise ship tourism, and the closure of national borders led to the demise of island tourism. Typically, in Vanuatu and Samoa, resorts, restaurants, and other components of the formal and informal sectors closed down. Much employment was lost (especially of women), creating development problems at every level, alongside a reversion to self-reliance, raising questions over the future of tourism industries and national and island economies.