Tourism Rebound Post-COVID-19: A Scoping Review of Determinants, Mechanisms, and Recovery Trajectories

Abstract

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented contraction of global tourism: international arrivals fell 74% in 2020 and the sector lost an estimated USD 1.3 trillion in export revenues. Tourism rebound, the multidimensional process through which tourism demand, supply, and mobility recover after a systemic shock, has become a major scientific and policy concern, yet no protocol-driven synthesis has mapped its full thematic landscape.

This scoping review maps the scientific literature on tourism rebound after COVID-19, characterises the bibliometric profile of the field, synthesises its thematic structure, and identifies research gaps with implications for tourism policy.

The review followed a five-stage scoping-review framework and was reported using PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Systematic searching of Scopus identified 88 peer-reviewed articles published between January 2020 and March 2025.

The thematic synthesis around the 4T Framework, encompassing Tourist behaviour, Transport and mobility, Transformation and sustainability, and Technology and innovation, shows tourism rebound to be a multi-conditional, non-linear process co-determined by four interacting dimensions. An integrated conceptual model distinguishes two normatively opposed rebound pathways: volumetric restoration and structural transformation.

Tourism rebound requires simultaneous progress across behavioural, infrastructural, governance, and organisational dimensions. Five research gaps emerge, each carrying implications for tourism policy, resilience governance, and sustainable recovery.

Keywords: tourism rebound; COVID-19; scoping review; PRISMA-ScR; resilience; tourism recovery; sustainable transition