Exploring Tourism Recovery in the Post-COVID-19 Period: An Evolutionary Game Theory Approach

Abstract

This study aims to explore the process of tourism recovery in the post-COVID-19 period and the role of stakeholders in promoting such a process. Using evolutionary game theory, this study analyzes the behavior interactions and game equilibrium of stakeholders in the development of tourism by constructing an evolutionary game model amongst governments, tourists and tourism enterprises. Then, the influences of different evolution paths and major parameters affecting stakeholders’ strategy selection are discussed. With the aim of illustrating the role of the stakeholders in the tourism sector’s economic recovery under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the numerical experiment was conducted using the MATLAB 2016 software. The results show that the development and change of the emergent public health events affect tourism stakeholders’ behavior strategy. Moreover, the strategic choices of each player, including governments, tourism enterprises and tourists, are also constantly evolving at different stages of the pandemic.