ABSTRACT
The current ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries all over the world in unprecedented ways. Honduras -a Central American country that for years has been focusing on the development of its tourism sector- has been hard hit by the measures implemented to contain the spread of the virus. The closing of borders, academic institutions, government establishments and the suspension of all work activity in the public and private sector in March of 2020 crippled the economy and hurt many businesses. Moreover, the prohibition of public transportation, public events and all sports, social and cultural activities resulted in a change of behavior of both national and international citizens who began to avoid leaving their homes to prevent getting infected with the virus. This thesis dissertation therefore focuses on exploring the resilient responses that hotels in Honduras have had to implement since the beginning of the pandemic. Data collection and its analysis aimed to provide an answer to the following research question: What resilient responses have been developed by the Honduran hotel industry as a result of changes in tourist behavior in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Findings of this research show that hotels have been through three phases: response, recovery and renewal. During each phase, different actions were taken, all which aimed to respond to the new behavior of tourists caused by the pandemic. The conclusion is that all hotels have been affected. Nonetheless, since remote, open-air destinations are now greatly preferred, hotels linked to beach tourism, eco-tourism and cultural-tourism have not been forced to be too innovative with their strategies, as they already possess the outdoor, nature-like setting that people are now desperately looking for. It is those hotels linked with tourism business the ones that have had to think outside of the box in order to attract guests and have more chances to thrive in this “new normal”.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1. 1
INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Research Background 1
1.3 Research Problem 3
1.4 Research Question 3
1.5 Research Objectives 4
1.6 Research Significance 4
CHAPTER 2. 5
2.1 Overview 5
2.2 Research Gap 8
CHAPTER 3. 9
METHODOLOGY 9
3.1 Research Design 9
3.2 Research Approach 9
3.3 Research Framework 10
3.4 Planning and Developing Instruments 11
3.5 Data Collection 12
3.6 Data Analysis Method 12
CHAPTER 4. 14
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 14
4.1 Honduran Hotel Industry Response Phase 14
4.2 Honduran Hotel Industry Recovery Phase: 16
4.3 Honduran Hotel Industry Renew Phase: 20
4.4 Support for Honduran Hotel Industry During COVID-19 22
4.5 Suggestions to Promote Competitive and Sustainable Tourism 23
4.6 Discussion 23
CHAPTER 5. 26
CONCLUSIONS 26
5.1 Conclusions 26
5.2 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research 28
REFERENCES 29
APPENDIX I. 32
INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE 32

REFERENCES
Connor, P. (2020). More than nine-in-ten people worldwide live in countries with travel restrictions amid COVID-19. Fact Tank - Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/01/more-than-nine-in-ten-people-worldwide-live-in-countries-with-travel-restrictions-amid-COVID-19/
F. Kock, A. Josiassen, A.G. Assaf, I. Karpen, F. Farrelly. Tourism ethnocentrism and its effects on tourist and resident behavior. Journal of Travel Research, 58 (3) (2019), pp. 427-439 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0047287518755504
Gössling, S., Scott, D. , & Hall, C. M. (2020). Pandemics, tourism and global change: A rapid assessment of COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708
Gursoy, D., Chi, C. G., & Chi, O. H. (2020). COVID-19 Study 2 Report: Restaurant and Hotel Industry: Restaurant and hotel customers’ sentiment analysis. Would they come back? If they would, WHEN? (Report No. 2), Carson College of Business, Washington State University.
Hjalager, A. M. (2002, October 1). Repairing innovation defectiveness in tourism. ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261517702000134?casa_token=9qzaFor2YuMAAAAA:x6MwDVyqSfAIwxVSVZSQOJKRAh498cFt1r-lqB7_1v-_X9y909ysIlNFrK10bmSZY12Km59d5Q
Howard, C. (2021, January 27). Reset Your Business Strategy in COVID-19 Recovery. Copyright (C) 2021 Gartner, Inc. All Rights Reserved. https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/reset-your-business-strategy-in-covid-19-recovery/
Martínez-Román, J. A., Tamayo, J. A., Gamero, J., & Romero, J. E. (2015, September 1). Innovativeness and business performances in tourism SMEs. ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160738315000985
Reichel, A., Fuchs, G., & Uriely, N. (2007). Perceived risk and the non-institutionalized tourist role: The case of Israeli student ex-backpackers. Journal of Travel Research, 46(2), 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287507299580
Senker, S., & Kock, F. (2020, December 1). The coronavirus pandemic - A critical discussion of a tourism research agenda. ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261517720300881
Taylor, T., & Toohey, K. (2007). Perceptions of terrorism threats at the 2004 Olympic games: Implications for sport events. Journal of Sport & Tourism,12(2), 99–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/14775080701654754
World Travel and Tourism Council. (2020, April 24). WTTC now estimates over 100 million jobs losses in the Travel & Tourism sector and alerts G20 countries to the scale of the crisis. https://wttc.org/News-Article/WTTC-now-estimates-over-100-million-jobs-losses-in-the-Travel-&-Tourism-sector-and-alerts-G20-countries-to-the-scale-of-the-crisis
Yu, J., Seo, J., & Hyun, S. S. (2021, February 1). Perceived hygiene attributes in the hotel industry: customer retention amid the COVID-19 crisis. ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278431920303200