The Role of the Belt and Road Initiative in Driving Tourism in the Post COVID-19 Era

As the Central Asian region emerges from the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, it can look ahead with a sense of optimism. Nestled within its confines, lie many unique tourist attractions that provide a variety of year-round quality experiences, which can form the catalyst for sustainable economic growth over the long-term. This study examines the important role the Tourism sector can play in driving economic growth along in the Central Asian corridor. It also details the key policy initiatives that Governments can look to implement and in particular, the role the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) plays in driving key infrastructural projects that enhance the level of connectivity to tourism markets in the region. In addition to this, our study assesses what the potential green growth developmental agenda might look like for the tourism sector. Our research showed that the BRI will potentially prove to be the largest infrastructure project in history, enormously affecting the growth of tourist industries in the regions including and surrounding the Silk Road In these regions, institutional growth and social change, both affected by technological developments, will likely drive the growth of tourism industries. The BRI provides the backbone to these developments