Emerging Contour of Human Security: A Case Study of COVID 19 Impact on Tourism Policies

Abstract

The advent of COVID-19 has emerged as a preeminent global non-traditional security threat in the 21st century, posing multifaceted challenges to the security and economic well-being of human communities worldwide. This research seeks to highlight the intricate nexus between the human security implications engendered by the transmission of the coronavirus and its consequential devastating impact on the global tourism industry—a domain notably underexplored in scholarly literature. COVID 19 was one of the most challenging human security threats in our times which had negative impacts on human security and raised pertinent concerns about the issues of health safety while tourism in an era ridden with the paranoia of the pandemic. Tourism is one of the many sectors which was severely damaged by the human security threats emanating from the precarity of the global pandemic situation. However, many countries developed and implemented unique and practical tourism policies which proved successful in tackling the challenges posed by the COVID-19. A critical examination of the innovative policies implemented by New Zealand, Australia, Belize, China, the UK, and Pakistan underscores the essential principles of empowerment and protection required for pragmatic and human-centric policymaking in the post-COVID era. The findings emphasise the need to employ the principles of adaptability, flexibility, innovation, diversity, community engagement, health and safety protocol implementation, utilization of digital platforms for marketing, infrastructure investment, collaborative endeavours, and research-informed decision-making to formulate sustainable and resilient tourism policies in the aftermath of the COVID-19 milieu.