The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Tourism Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Management

Pandemics, Tourism and Global Change

Table of Contents

Extended Abstract

Introduction.

Literature Review..

Methodology.

Extended Abstract on The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Tourism

The report that will be discussed below is about the effect of the COVID 19 pandemic on tourism. The situation has made tourism come to a halt at a larger level. The pandemic has forced people to stay indoors and has affected the economy of those countries who rely on tourism for their income. The report will discuss how the impact has been on tourism and its factors. The methodology will include surveys and reviews from different sources related to inter and tourism inside the country. Several questionnaires will be made and put up to a number of people related to the field of tourism. Their views will build an analysis of the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic in tourism. The results obtained will be helped in building interventions and reports on the effect of the pandemic in tourism and hospitality. As it is known to all that tourism includes five-star hotel employees to even small city drivers. The methodology applied will be based on a travel agency named Travel Safe. The surveys will be initiated through their medium. The agency has been chosen to ensure a fair and transparent form in getting reviews.

The references used for the analysis will include journals on sustainable tourism, written by Sigala, journals by Gossling and his colleagues, journals by Qui and Song, and a few more that will be included in the report analysis. The analysis will help in evaluating the impacts in a broader way. References such as scholarly journals, articles from the internet, and journals from online databases will be included in the analysis.

Introduction to The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Tourism

The COVID pandemic had a larger impact not on the social stream but also on the political and economic stream. The crisis that is being faced by the population has made it clear that nothing is mightier than nature. The first and foremost requirement to deal with COVID 19 is taking care of oneself. This requires monetary support. Due to the emergence of the pandemic, there are many professions and vocations that have suffered a lot. COVID was declared a pandemic in the month of March and since then, it has been six months and there is hardly any scope of tourism to date. In words of Gossling et al., the disease onset has bought a change globally in lifestyle as well. There are many regions nationally and internationally that completely depend on the resources from tourism (Gossling et al., 2020)[2]. People living in mountainous regions largely depend on tourism for their daily wage income. It is because the mountains call for a lot of tourist attractions. The national reserves located on the outskirts of the state also depend on tourists’ frontier management. Even the zoo and the museum in the city require funds and profit from the visitors for its daily basis maintenance. The restrictions and locking of borders of countries to lessen the contraction of COVID has badly affected the income of these sources. It does not limit national and international tourism. It has affected even the local museums and parks of the cities. The whole analysis will be on taking out the amount of harm it has caused on an overall basis.

Starting from the couples who love exploring new places to travel bloggers and even families who love going on trips, there have been dilemmas and feelings of sorrow. The people involved in every stance of tourism starting from the employees of hotels and lodge, the tourist guides of the particular area, the local drivers, and the online websites who are into the hospitality and tourism business (Chinazzi et al.,  2020)[12].‌

The business has suffered quite a big loss in the last 6 months. There have been losses in jobs, crises in maintaining the places of tourist attraction. It has also been observed that the flight and train tickets that were booked before the pandemic stroke also had been opened up by the management. This step has been taken to avoid any mishaps from the customer's side. In current understanding, it can be assured that at present almost all kinds of professions are coming back to normal but tourism stands still and requires more facilitation in order to be restored back to normal.

The purpose of the analysis is to review and scrutinize the amount of effect that has been put on the tourism industry due to the sudden emergence of the COVID pandemic. The analysis would include reviews gained from surveys from approximately five or six people. The survey will be initiated through social media through a travel agency named Travel Safe. This platform has been chosen to ensure that the reviews that are received are true and are from genuine users. The platform used will be a popular travel site to get online reviews of the customer, the stakeholders, booking panel, and the other staff including guides and drivers (Ioannides and Gymothy, 2020)[14] . The probable questions will be based on a set of questionnaires that will be provided to the relevant group. The answers will be given through online mode and after the survey is over, the answer will be used in analysing the impact of the pandemic.

Talking about the possible actions that can be taken into account is adopting measures that would help in undisturbed management of tourism. Even after coming back to a normal situation, people would always have fear regarding infection and diseases. The slightest of the mistakes can evoke the range of infection. Therefore it is necessary to discipline and rules in order to gain maximum trust out of the customer in post COVID times. It can include social distancing, maintaining safety for tourists, maintaining hygiene and cleanliness in hotels and homestays, ensuring the use of plastic money to achieve contactless transactions (Priduex et al.,  2020)[18]. In a nutshell, it can be said that maintaining the standards of hygiene and the approach to online booking modes can decrease the fear of infection. The online mode has been a boon in disguise because it is the easiest and hassle-free way of exchanging money.

Literature Review

The ascent of COVID 19 inevitably changes the scenarios of tourists and tourism in the country. According to Sigala, the COVID 19 situation challenges the business of tourism and it advocates that the situation should be molded in such a way so that tourism might get a start again. In order to get started, the first thing that is to have dined is checking the mindset of the general public (Sigala, 2020)[1]. A maximum number of people love to travel. Some love it in groups and some alone. The planning and the availability can be done by the agency like Travel safe in the least confusion. Hence the reviews obtained would also show a way to the travel business to discover the impacts and the customers themselves can provide the ideas that can be implemented to help in increasing the tourism business. The methodology that is required to help in carrying out the survey is the way through online mode. The company called Travel Safe has been working in the field of tourism for more than a decade. The company deals with all sorts of travel-friendly itineraries across the country. It is the most preferred travel agency among the crowd. The survey would be performed on an online basis through the application. According to Hoque et al.,  the questionnaires prepared on the portal of the company provided to customers can help gain knowledge about the company who are regular and will answer the questions and the provided feedback will help in analysing the outcomes (Hoque et al., 2020)[16]. According to Qui et al., tourism has a direct impact on the social life of the population. It provides a space for social interaction where different people from different countries meet and interact (Qiu et al., 2020)[3]. The methodology applied in obtaining the reviews has marginalized the fact that the pandemic had a greater impact in all fields of life. With the growing surveys in tourism and through researching about the business in the pandemic, there is an anonymous call to see it as an opportunity for transformation. According to Nowlin, the industry must not only recover but also try to make changes in the economic order and strategies (Nowlin, 2017). The pandemic must not be used as another way to measure and predict the outcomes of the pandemic but to analyse and initiate new processes that would help tourism grow in that state as well. According to Niewiadomski, there are studies and theories available to deal with the pandemic but there is no advanced knowledge available to guide this industry post-pandemic (Niewiadomski, 2020)[17]. The pandemic is highly linked to all paces in life such as social, cultural, economic, and political. Therefore new strategies must be applied instead of historical ones that have been followed for years. The times have changed and the old ones may not work hampering the working and modulation of the tourism industry. According to Khan et al., the pandemic has bought an economic stain over a larger number of the population(Khan et al., 2020)[5].

The impact of the pandemic on travel must be held with smart tactics so that it can be better with time. According to Koh, people must have the opportunity to utilize every chance to enjoy themselves while traveling and the desires of traveling must not end post-pandemic (Koh, 2020)[7].

The COVID had a devastating impact on hotels, airports, cruise, and other traveling and hospitality services in the months of March and April. As Nepal states in his journal, it is mandatory for the entrepreneur to manage tactics that will allure the tourists again and create a business making scope for the economy to regain again (Nepal, 2020)[8]. A significant change has been seen in the incomings of museums and parks. According to Hall et al., quarantine and self-isolation had made it impossible to mingle. There is no mobility and without mobility, there cannot be any tourism or recreation (Hall et al.,  2020)[9]. Therefore it is required to analyse the perspective on how much it has affected on an individual basis. The people working for these parks and zoos are near to unemployed. The new approach has to be implemented to revive the essence of enjoyment through tourism.

Methodology of The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Tourism

The questionnaires were uploaded on the portal of the Travel Safe agency and it received a huge response from its loyal customers. The questionnaire included the following:

• What will be your travel prospects after COVID 19?
• Would you like to visit the surrounding suburbs after the lockdown is over?
• What are the main concerns that would stop you from traveling?
• Will you be financially stable to travel after the pandemic is over?
• Would you plan your itineraries yourself or take help from the agencies?

The following questions had various forms of answers and it was pleasant to see that about half of the population wanted to travel after the pandemic is over. It can be delightful to the tourism business because if people would travel, it would help the travel agency financially strong again (Higgins-Desbiolles 2020)[19]. The reviews that were obtained had some special demands that included the preference of those places and hotels who maintained hygiene. According to Haywood, it also viewed that people would like to travel to those areas where the health status regarding the virus is strong (Haywood,2020)[11]. People vehemently expressed the fact that they would definitely want to travel when the pandemic is over with all safety measures carried out along with them and they expected the same from the hospitality crew as well.

It was also surprising to see that there was an immense rise in preferring the travel agency to plan the itineraries (Gursoy and Chi 2020)[15]. People stated that they found it safe and reliable to get the bookings from travel agencies because the agency provided the best of the hotels and the ratings were genuine. Folinas and Metaxas stated the same in their journal (Follinas and Metaxas, 2020)[13].

The next set of questions were prepared for the guides who were involved in helping the tourists in particular regions. The questionnaire included:

• How long have you not been getting income?
• How are you dealing with financial problems?
• Will you want to serve as a guide if tourists arrive in a pandemic?
• If yes, what preparation do you must take to handle the situation?
• Will you raise the amount of charge while serving tourists?

The following questionnaires proved that the economy has been affected in the case of tourism as well. There are many places in the world that rely on tourist activities for their bread and butter. The guides and scouts have been under immense financial pressure and that is being shown in the surveys. Though the best part that has been endeavoured that the goods are ready to serve the tourists who would come to visit. According to Nguyen and Stefaniak, the same has been stated in his journal as well (Nyugen and Stefanaik, 2020)[6]. They claimed that they would take all possible safety measures so that there is no inconvenience caused to the tourist. It was also observed that many of them started small income ways to support families. But they still rely on tourism for their normal life sustenance.

The next set of questionnaires were provided to the drivers related to the agency of different regions. The questionnaire included:

• Would you like to serve the tourists who would come now to your area?
• If yes, what safety measures would you follow?
• What can you do to provide extra care and recreation to the tour you will be traveling with?
• How much as pandemic affected the way of your living?

The reviews collected from the above questionnaires displayed the high spirits of drivers. They have been badly affected by COVID 19 pandemic. The maintenance of their vehicles, the fuel needed, and regular oiling all are dependent on the tourists. Brouder in his journal states the problem faced by the workers involved in tourism (Brouder, 2020)[20]The drivers have no other option rather than depending on the tourism emergence in their respective areas. Their reviews too showed a positive response in taking up all safety measures that would not cause any intentional harm to the public attraction arriving in their cities after the pandemic is over.

The last few questions were finally done for the staff of the agencies to know the discrepancies they have been facing during the pandemic. The questions included the economic conditions of the employees, the consequences, the next possible tourism splurge, and a few more. The outcome was the same as expected, As Donthu and Gustaffson stated in their journal, employees had to face a cut off in salary and many of the employees have been fired as well because the company could not bear the expenses of the employees (Donthu and Gustaffson 2020)[10]. The remaining staff eagerly wanted the situations to become normal as fast as possible so that the normalcy in day to day life can be obtained.

The survey helped a lot in obtaining the mindset of the people involved in the tourism department. COVID has affected equality in all spheres of life. One thing that is wanted now is to get into the normal routine and lifestyle which the population had before the pandemic entered their lives. For a change, it can be concluded that life has begun to be normal in some spheres at present and it can be assumed that life will soon be the same as it was earlier.

References for The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Tourism

[1]M. Sigala, “Tourism and COVID-19: Impacts and implications for advancing and resetting industry and research,” Journal of Business Research, vol. 117, pp. 312–321, Sep. 2020.

‌[2]S. Gössling, D. Scott, and C. M. Hall, “Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of COVID-19,” Journal of Sustainable Tourism, pp. 1–20, Apr. 2020.

‌[3]R. T. R. Qiu, J. Park, S. Li, and H. Song, “Social costs of tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 84, p. 102994, Sep. 2020.

‌[4]C. NOWLIN, “Understanding and Undermining the Growth Paradigm,” Dialogue, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 559–593, Sep. 2017.

‌[5]N. Khan, A. U. Hassan, S. Fahad, and M. Naushad, “Factors Affecting Tourism Industry and Its Impacts on Global Economy of the World,” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020.

‌[6]J. Li, T. H. H. Nguyen, and J. A. Coca-Stefaniak, “Coronavirus impacts on post-pandemic planned travel behaviors,” Annals of Tourism Research, p. 102964, May 2020.

[7]E. Koh, “The end of over-tourism? Opportunities in a post-COVID-19 world,” International Journal of Tourism Cities, vol. ahead-of-print, no. ahead-of-print, Aug. 2020.

[8]S. K. Nepal, “Travel and tourism after COVID-19 – business as usual or opportunity to reset?,” Tourism Geographies, pp. 1–5, May 2020.

‌[9]C. M. Hall, D. Scott, and S. Gössling, “Pandemics, transformations and tourism: be careful what you wish for,” Tourism Geographies, pp. 1–22, Apr. 2020.

[10]N. Donthu and A. Gustafsson, “Effects of COVID-19 on business and research,” Journal of Business Research, vol. 117, pp. 284–289, Sep. 2020.

[11]K. M. Haywood, “A post-COVID future: tourism community re-imagined and enabled,” Tourism Geographies, pp. 1–11, May 2020.

‌[12]M. Chinazzi et al.,  “The effect of travel restrictions on the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak,” Science, p. eaba9757, Mar. 2020.

‌[13]S. Folinas and T. Metaxas, “TOURISM: THE GREAT PATIENT OF CORONAVIRUS COVID-2019,” International Journal of Advanced Research, vol. 08, no. 04, pp. 365–375, Apr. 2020.

[14]D. Ioannides and S. Gyimóthy, “The COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity for escaping the unsustainable global tourism path,” Tourism Geographies, pp. 1–9, May 2020.

‌[15]D. Gursoy and C. G. Chi, “Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on hospitality industry: review of the current situations and a research agenda,” Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 527–529, Jul. 2020.

[16]A. Hoque, F. A. Shikha, M. W. Hasanat, I. Arif, and A. B. A. Hamid, “The Effect of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Tourism Industry in China,” Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 52–58, Mar. 2020.

‌[17]P. Niewiadomski, “COVID-19: from temporary de-globalisation to a re-discovery of tourism?,” Tourism Geographies, pp. 1–6, May 2020.

‌[18]B. Prideaux, M. Thompson, and A. Pabel, “Lessons from COVID-19 can prepare global tourism for the economic transformation needed to combat climate change,” Tourism Geographies, pp. 1–12, May 2020.

‌[19]F. Higgins-Desbiolles, “Socialising tourism for social and ecological justice after COVID-19,” Tourism Geographies, pp. 1–14, Apr. 2020.

‌[20]P. Brouder, “Reset redux: possible evolutionary pathways towards the transformation of tourism in a COVID-19 world,” Tourism Geographies, pp. 1–7, May 2020.

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