THE IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: THE CASE OF ACAUÃ TRAVEL AND TOURISM - SANTA CRUZ-RN

Abstract

Tourism is characterized by being a multifaceted activity, in addition to being reactive to crises according to each season, whether in periods of seasonality, social or political revolutions, disease outbreaks or climatic advents. A recent example is the covid-19 pandemic, which has spread on a global scale, affecting all areas, especially tourism. The sector was one of the hardest hit, as well as the characteristic activity of tourism, for travel agencies, was no different, with the sanitary restrictions and border closures imposed by government agencies, it had a significant unemployment rate. To this end, the present work aims to analyze the impacts caused by the covid-19 pandemic on the travel agency, Acauã Viagens e Turismo, between the years 2020 and 2022. From a qualitative research of exploratory and descriptive characteristic, with bibliographic and electronic review, on websites, scientific journals and books, with a methodological approach combined with the single case study. The interview script was used based on the "Explanatory model of the COVID-19 impact on the tourism sector" by the authors Garcez, Franco and Correia (2021). The results indicate that the company's team knew how to manage the resources they had to move the operation of the agency, training and formatting new services, such as alternative tourism routes, also had support from the federal government and used technological mechanisms to circumvent the crisis.