DO WE HAVE CARNAVAL IN FEBRUARY? COVID-19-RELATED PUBLIC POLICY TARGETING TOURISM IN PERNAMBUCO

Abstract

The aim of this article is to evaluate how the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, through its public policies, has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic concerning the tourism sector. Therefore, the study presents an overview of the impacts caused by the pandemic, considering the first semester of 2020, on public accounts, air traffic, accommodation and employability, based on transparency websites and other open information provided by federal and state governments. The creation of the Northeast Scientific Committee and its recommendations on pandemic response are analysed in order to establish the adoption (or not) of such guidelines for the achievement of state decrees aimed at combating the pandemic. It is intended to highlight how the state of Pernambuco seeks to manage the crisis by weighing both sides of the scale: The Consortium's recommendations and sector’s pressure to reopen through the interviews with the Secretariat of Tourism, on the one hand, and with people linked to the tourist trade on the other, reveal such impasse. Lastly, the article concludes by pointing out that, as far as possible, Pernambuco has faced the crisis positively, including welcoming the tourism sector, making efforts to provide alternatives within the presented scenario.