COVID-19 economic stimulus packages, tourism industry and external debt: The influence of extreme poverty.

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a catastrophic effect on the tourism sector and poverty alleviation efforts. This is especially the case, given the crucial role the tourism sector plays in poverty alleviation and the generation of foreign exchange earnings. This study investigates the moderating influence of extreme poverty on the underlying link between the size of the tourism industry and COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Packages (ESPs) while accounting for the influence of external debt. The results show that tourism-dependent economies with a larger share of individuals living in extreme poverty introduced larger ESPs to cushion the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, economies with larger external debt have less fiscal and monetary leeway to alleviate the negative effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Covid-19 vaccines, rules, deaths, and tourism recovery.

This study explores whether vaccination coverage, social distancing rules, and COVID-19 death rate affect tourism recovery using data from 249 countries/territories. We used panel data regression techniques-namely Fixed-effects, Hausman-Taylor, and Instrumental Variables regressions for the empirical analysis. Results show that a higher vaccination coverage is not necessarily accompanied by a higher tourism recovery. Similarly, a higher level of stringency restriction hinders tourism recovery. Results also indicate that a lower death rate helps to promote tourism recovery in developed economies. These results suggest that vaccination coverage alone is not the magic bullet for restarting the tourism industry. Policymakers should consider a mix of effective vaccination administration accompanied by the use of therapeutics to lower the COVID-19 death rate.