Sustainable Place Marketing and Tourism: Aspects of Public Management in the Light of the First Wave of Covid-19

Abstract

The present study aims to clarify the general theoretical aspects of place marketing and tourism followed by a presentation of the interlinkages of these ‘collocations’ as understood in the context of sustainability. Then moving along the historical perspective of changes in the function fulfilled by tourism and arriving at the event-sensitive nature – that entails genuine risks in terms of both safety and trust – of the issue of destination choice, which has gained a high profile economically as well as socially upon the development of modern tourism, this paper looks into the relationship between the Covid-19 pandemic developed in the first half of 2020 and tourism on the one hand while also examining the epidemic-induced measures taken by the central authorities and their effects on tourism on the other hand; in the latter context, the event series related to Hungary will receive particular focus. Methodologically the article is built upon literature analysis, the secondary research of relevant research papers written by academics researching the field of tourism-marketing, pandemic and on the analysis of the statistical data and on descriptive analysis of press products. Findings resulting from the article points to tourism industry’s vulnerability, increased security risks and unsustainability of current global system.