A Constructivist Grounded Theory Investigation of Businesses’ Concerns about Public-Private Partnership Responses Toward COVID-19

Abstract

Peripheral destinations in Egypt face public-private partnership (P3) response challenges during COVID-19. The proposed partnership policies and solutions of governments seem inadequate and reflect a lack of agility. This constructivist grounded theory (GT) study aims to investigate businesses’ perceptions and concerns that may affect reshaping the P3 strategies of Egypt’s tourism-related government departments at Marsa Alam, Egypt. The period under investigation is May 2020 to July 2020, when COVID-19 was causing a fundamental change in Egypt’s tourism industry. The findings show that employees’ rights, businesses’ priorities, destinations’ recovery challenges, and making P3 more joined-up are significant concerns in the recovery, restart, and agile P3 responses of peripheral destinations. This study investigates P3 management and considers its application in the wake of global health crises, where agile P3 practices are lacking.