ABSTRACT
This research begins with the possibility of taking advantage of a very unusual situation, such as the first days of a dramatic pandemic with a significant impact on tourism activity, to obtain relevant information on stakeholder perceptions at that precise moment. The aim is to capture the different perceptions on the effects and possible recovery strategies for destinations, which could condition the touristic make-decision process for its design. For this, 285 professionals in the Spanish tourism sector were surveyed between 03/27/2020 and 04/30/2020. A review of other exogenous touristic crises has been done to define this survey process, identifying the primary variables, dimensions and consequences, and the recovery strategies applied. The results permit identifying preferences of the sector in an extreme crisis and identifying differences between different stakeholder types. This research offers a substantial amount of relevant information which can be very useful to compare with future research after recovery and to be able to conclude this kind of rush and uncertain decision- making processes with a view to a more efficient early design of recovery strategies against the exogenous crisis. © 2022 Universidad de Murcia. All rights reserved.