Public planning and crisis management in the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazilian tourist destinations: Sustainable actions or economic reactions?

Abstract

The impact caused by the public health crisis of the Covid-19 in Brazilian tourist cities demands that local governance implements actions to respond to and manage the crisis resulting from the suspension of tourist activities. The objective of this paper is to highlight which measures are being adopted, at a local level, in the historic and tourist city of Tiradentes in Minas Gerais State, whilst considering the limitations of theoretical and empirical studies which articulate planning, crisis management and governance in the scope of the pandemic management in tourist destinations. On the one hand, tourist destinations have the possibility of reopening and flexibilization of economic activities and on the other, the social distancing recommendations. The documental and content analysis carried out made it possible to consider Tiradentes a city of atomized governance. As a result, we identified the prioritization of the economic dimension out of conformity with the socio-environmental and socio-cultural aspects and the lack of a planning that aims to recover from the impacts of Covid-19 in the post-pandemic scenario.