Business perception of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on tourism: A qualitative analysis of the Extremadura, Spain, destination

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused substantial disruptions in the tourism sector. This situation has forced sectoral actors to adopt important measures, but on the other hand, it has also generated new business opportunities. Using qualitative analysis tools, this paper analyzed the perception of businesspeople in the sector regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and outlined the measures to be adopted to help the recovery of the sector in Extremadura, an emerging inland tourist destination in the southwest of Spain. The results show that their main concern is the economic impact that the crisis is having on their businesses, along with the main measures that the tourism businesspeople are requesting to overcome this situation.