Assessing the impact of COVID-19 to tourism and adaptation strategies: a case study in Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are beyond health effects; it has disrupted many socioeconomic activities and pushed many people into job loss. Tourism is one of the industries that is impacted the most by the COVID-19 pandemic because of country lockdown, travel restriction, and social distancing to reduce its impacts. Vietnam is controlling the pandemic well in comparison to other countries. However, tourism still faces up many difficulties to overcome. Therefore, a robust assessment about the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on tourism is needed to establish suitable, effective adaptation strategies. In this study, comparison and survey methods are used to understand the impacts and the difficulties that tourism and tourism enterprises have to suffer during the COVID-19 pandemic. From the analyzed data combined with the COVID-19 scenario in Vietnam to propose adaptation strategies for each scenario. This study provides a theoretical basis for the decision-makers to manage tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic.