COVID-19 has become a wake-up call for Malaysians to rethink our economy. Some sectors have fared far worse than others. The tourism sector, in particular, has been one of the worst-hit sectors in Malaysia following the massive contraction in both tourist arrivals and tourism expenditure. However, recent trends suggest that the tourism sector may have been stagnating over the past decade.

These trends raise the need for us to understand the response of SMEs, the most important stakeholders within the tourism sector, towards emerging trends for a more sustainable recovery in the long run. In this policy brief, authors, Yohendran Nadar Arulthevan and Adli Amirullah aim to highlight the emerging trends within the tourism sector and the challenges tourism SMEs face in adapting to these trends.