Start-ups' resilience to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The case of tourism industry

Tourism industry has been one of the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some actors have been forced out of business, but for some the pandemic has proven to be an opportunity for growth and development. The article has two main aims. The first is to synthesize the conclusions of research regarding the operation of start-ups and their resilience to crises. The second is to identify research directions on the effects of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on start-ups operating in tourism industry. The article presents the results of previous work on tourism start-ups and the findings of a secondary data review, which are organised into two themes: start-ups as a response to a pandemic and the effects of a pandemic on existing start-ups, coping strategies, and conditions for start-up resilience to crisis phenomena. The studied cases indicate that the pandemic period for tourism start-ups has the character of "creative destruction", in which access to critical resources (financial, relational, and organisational) will not only enable their survival but will bring about an improvement in their situation. The analysis allowed for the development of key research questions by further studies on tourism start-ups.