INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW tourism industry19, as it is not considered an essential activity, despite its economic importance. All tourism activities, leisure, hotels, accommodation, congresses, etc., came to a complete standstill. In fact, one of the main causes of the rapid spread of the virus was the hypermobility in the globalised world in which we live. Hypermobility originated, to a large extent, by tourism itself, so that its closure was inevitable. This is what has been called the “tourist zero”, i.e. the total and absolute paralysis of all tourist activity, which has shown, among other things, the fragility of the sector after the financial crisis of 2008 despite the good numbers of the last 10 years and the firm commitment to growth at all costs, without taking into account other legal assets that should be protected20. 3.2. – Tourism as the main industry affected: The change in the tourism model As can be easily understood, tourism is one of the economic sectors most affected by this health emergency21. The tourism industry is essentially based on the mobility of the recipients of services, something which, as we have already seen, has been restricted since March 2020 with varying degrees of intensity. From the total limitation of the first months of the quarantine, with a ban on leaving home except for activities considered essential, to more or less severe restrictions depending on the number of contagions, the situation of intensive care units in 19 As pointed out by YANG, Y., ZHANG, H. y CHENC, X., (2020) in “Coronavirus pandemic and tourism: dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modeling of infectiours desease outbreak”. Ann Tour Res; 83:102913. doi:10.1016/j.annals.2020.102913, “Infectious disease outbreaks, including coronavirus, greatly jeopardize the tourism industry given its reliance on human mobility”. 20 As pointed out by ROMERO PADILLA, M., ROMERO MARTÍNEZ, J. M.ª. y NAVARRO JURADO, E., (2020) “Reflexiones desde el post crecimiento: ideas, estrategias y tácticas para el turismo post-COVID-19”, p. 3, “The financial crisis of 2008 was resolved with labour precariousness, concentration of companies and cheaper holidays (aeroplanes, housing and low cost activities). On the whole, it was decided to reproduce the same economic system: public bailouts for private banks, without demanding too many controls, lack of protection for families and small businesses, concentration of companies and more growth as the only guide along the way. These general elements have a significant impact on tourism [...] The aim of this paper is to reflect on how to approach the transformation of the tourism operating system in the current health crisis from a post-growth perspective, avoiding reproducing and extending the problems of the previous situation. It would be neither prudent nor profitable to recover a fragile and weakened tourism sector after the crisis. It must emerge stronger, and for this, short-term palliative economic actions are not enough, outside a broader structure with medium- and long-term strategies and objectives that address the climate emergency”. 21 PÉREZ GUERRA, R., (2020), “Algunas notas sobre el derecho administrativo del turismo: COVID-19”, Revista General de Derecho Administrativo, Iustel, 54, “Tourism, as an economic activity and one of Spain’s most important strategic sectors, will also be affected by this pandemic. Tourism is perhaps the economic sector in which COVID-19 has caused a major tsunami because it is an activity that is based on the movement of people from their habitual residence to other destinations for holiday and/or leisure purposes and which is subject to seasonality; in short, it is a very fragile and completely globalised sector”.
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