INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW 1. INTRODUCTION The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected the tourism industry. Tourism is strongly connected with other economic industries, and, as a consequence, provides a remarkable contribution to sustainable development. The crisis of tourism has resulted in a major economic breakdown, leading to high unemployment levels, social injustices and environmental issues. A number of scholars have tried to predict the potential impacts of the pandemic on tourism, identifying economic, social and environmental consequences and proposing ways for the future recovery of the industry (Gallego and Font, 2020; Gössling, Scott, and Hall, 2020; Hall, Scott, and Gössling, 2020; Ioannides and Gyimóthy, 2020). These attempts have had a significant impact on the formation of approaches regarding the recovery of the tourism industry in research, and, subsequently, were reflected in policies. Even though the pandemic still continues to bring new challenges, the international community and national governments made attempts to support the industry and facilitate its recovery. The recovery of tourism has raised a debate on whether tourism activities should be boosted or a new model of tourism should be developed (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2021). Research has evidenced that despite the immediate need to restart the tourism activities to ensure its rapid growth, most recovery strategies adhere to the gradual and sustainable tourism recovery through the promotion of domestic tourism (Jones, 2022; Yeh 2021; Rastegar, et al. 2021; Fotiadis 2021; Collins-Kreiner, 2020). Thus, domestic tourism has obtained a central role in tourism recovery. The research on national policies and strategies for tourism recovery has also evidenced the paramount importance of domestic activities within the framework of restrictions imposed to prevent the deterioration of the epidemiological situation (Jones, 2022; Collins-Kreiner, et al. 2021). The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has also confirmed that domestic tourism has a greater chance to return rather than international travel, this represents an opportunity for countries to recover from the social, economic and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as provide a significant contribution to general sustainable development3. Moreover, the UNWTO has highlighted that the development of innovative 3 UNWTO Highlights Potential of Domestic Tourism to Help Drive Economic Recovery in Destinations Worldwide, September 14, 2020.
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