COVID-19 as a stimulus for growth? The Spanish journalistic treatment of tourism during confinement

Abstract

COVID-19 has had a negative effect on tourism activity, highlighting the dependence that many places have on it. Planners and managers have denounced the situation and have addressed it according to their interests: for or against regrowth as a means to overcome this crisis. The academic debate is focused on this polarisation and the possibility that this crisis constitutes an opportunity for change towards a degrowth approach in tourism. However, this approach is not adopted by politicians, entrepreneurs or the media. To confirm this hypothesis, we conducted a study focused on Spain, as it is an important international destination. We have used qualitative analysis tools in order to measure frequencies and construct semantic networks. We have analysed 2,440 written press articles on tourism in Spain, published in newspapers between 1st March and August 31st, 2020. The results confirm that the news items provide an x-ray of the events and constitute a means for transmitting the economic and reactivation discourse pro-re-growth defended by the interest groups.