Ecotourism and COVID-19: Impact on the efficiency of the Spanish hospitality industry

The health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has incurred devastating effects on the world economy, especially in the tourism sector. This paper analyses, on the one hand, the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on the efficiency of the hospitality industry in protected natural areas and, on the other hand, the effect of environmental factors on the performance of the sector. Twenty-seven Spanish protected natural areas are analysed and Data Envelopment Analysis is applied. The analysis determines that despite the strong impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector, there is a significant increase in the efficiency of the hospitality sector in protected natural areas, which provides evidence of the surplus of supply in natural areas before the pandemic. It is also found that both the tourist's perception of risk in the tourist destination and the territorial boundaries of the natural area play a fundamental role in the efficiency of tourism.