Tourism and Hospitality industry resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from England

The tourism and hospitality industries have been particularly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with widespread closures and later re-opening times than other areas of economic activity. However, little is known about the resilience of these industries in light of the current pandemic, within the context of English towns. This paper surveys businesses dependent on tourism located in English towns, to explore perceptions of resilience in this crisis context. We consider the nuances involved in resilience to disturbances such as Covid-19, revealing the temporal dimensions of resilience. Moreover, we identify influences informing differing resilience levels within and between industries. The paper also contributes a novel Business Resilience Composite Score, which enables academics, practitioners and policy-makers to draw comparisons between tourism and hospitality industry resilience and other economic activity in urban locations.