Abstract
Research on the vulnerability of tourist cities’ economic systems during COVID-19 can offer insightful implications for tourism recovery and resilience. We built a vulnerability index of tourist cities’ economic systems based on sensitivity and responsiveness amid COVID-19. Taking 46 major tourist cities in China as a case, the vulnerability indices and main vulnerability-induced factors were analyzed using a comprehensive assessment model and a factor identification model. The results revealed several trends. First, after the pandemic emerged, the vulnerability of the economic systems of major tourist cities remained mostly moderate. Vulnerability could be further divided into four types across four city characteristics and four system characteristics. Second, sensitivity had a more pronounced effect on system vulnerability; crisis pressure and inbound tourism reliance exerted key influences on the vulnerability of tourist cities’ economic systems. Cities with high and relatively high vulnerability were subject to tourism reliance sensitivity factors and urban guarantee responsiveness factors. Third, the pandemic’s influence on tourist cities’ economic system vulnerability was mainly reflected in exogenous environmental stress vulnerability (i.e., due to external environmental stress), but was essentially endogenous structural imbalance vulnerability (i.e., due to imbalanced internal structures). Fourth, system vulnerability can be alleviated by reducing system sensitivity, improving system responsiveness, and enhancing the system’s engineering resilience and ecological resilience. This study not only offers an overview of the vulnerability characteristics of tourist cities’ economic systems amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but also highlights the formation mechanisms of vulnerability.
Highlights
Vulnerability is often defined as the possibility, level, or status of a system that is vulnerable to damage [1]
Nations Development Program put forth the concept of “economic vulnerability”, defined as the capacity to bear damage caused by unexpected events over the course of economic development [3]
This study presents a multidimensional index model based on sensitivity and responsiveness to analyze the vulnerability of tourist cities’ economic systems during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Vulnerability is often defined as the possibility, level, or status of a system that is vulnerable to damage [1]. Nations Development Program put forth the concept of “economic vulnerability”, defined as the capacity to bear damage caused by unexpected events over the course of economic development [3]. This notion has been framed as an important index to measure sustainable economic development at the national and regional level. The level of vulnerability can forebode the possibility of a negative environment impairing the city’s economic system
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