Covid-19: implications for nature and tourism

With the first known case of Covid-19 reported in China on 31 December 2019, 2020 has witnessed the single-biggest disruption to the global tourism industry since records began, with devastating economic impacts. An unexpected outcome of the pandemic, however, has been a range of benefits for the natural environment. For example, the canals of Venice have begun to run clear and some depressed coastal fish-stocks are making tentative steps towards recovery, as both fishing and supply chains have been disrupted (Bennett et al., 2020; Braga et al., 2020). More extraordinary still, the world has reduced CO2 emissions to where they were a decade ago. At the same time, there are negative environmental impacts from the collapse of tourism. For example, the economic challenges to destinations dependent upon nature for tourism have given rise to illegal poaching, fishing and deforestation. In many places, tourism provides the value that in turn provides critical protection for fragile places and species. Covid-19 thus offers an opportunity to reflect on nature’s true contribution to tourism, its economic and non-economic value, and on the potential role for nature in tourism’s post-Covid recovery.