Purpose: This research aims at arriving at a broad scope of the lessons learnt after two years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak by analysing the catalyst and inhibiting factors within three aspects of the tourism sector: destination crisis management, tourist behaviour and tourism industry trends. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology of this paper involves semi-structured interviews with high-ranking European travel agents as the agents represent the intermediates between the tourism offer and demand. Findings: Data obtained from travel agents disclosed the factors that catalysed and inhibited the destination, the behaviour of tourists and the tourism industry trends. By contrasting data with previous literature, constructing an overview of the positive and negative outcomes of the pandemic in the tourism sector is possible. Practical implications: Governments, destination marketing and management organisations and tourism and hospitality organisations could learn from the lessons of COVID-19 outbreak to cope better with future disruptive events affecting the tourism industry. Originality/value: The paper is novel as it is the first overview that attempts to synthesise the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector by analysing tourism sector's three dimensions: the destination, the tourists and the industry.