Tourism and the COVID Pandemic, 2022: Development Challenges.

Abstract

Interview with Fernando Villalba Torres

Don Fernando Villalba Torres, Director of the Spanish Tourism Organization and Counselor of the Embassy of Spain in Mexico, shares valuable opinions about his experience as Tourism Counselor during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the main challenges that SARS-CoV-2 has represented are the brake on the free movement of people, and face-to-face communication between them, both fundamental factors within the tourism sector. For the sake of resuming the broken daily life in March 2020; Don Fernando Villalba emphasizes the importance of looking towards sustainable tourism, as a way of responding to the discomforts produced by mass industries and the pretensions of a voracious modernity, which violates the interaction between culture and nature.

Among the post-COVID teachings rescued by Don Fernando Villalba Torres is the urgency of resuming tourism experiences, especially through socio-cultural and student exchanges that shape cultural and historical tourism, as well as the immense opportunities of tourism sustainable as a source of inputs for the country.