The COVID-19 pandemic disease was for the very first time reported in December 2019 in China before its widespread across the globe and has undoubtedly been the most devastating of the financial and social crisis of recent times, leading to almost all economic activity and forcing a countrywide lockdown due to its consequences. Apart from that, this article shall elucidate the stimulus packages offered by the numerous governments to ensure the sustainability of the tourism industry in their respective countries and discussing the impact of tourism on the hotel industry as well. The author through this article has tried to highlight the need for the hour for refurbishing the tourism industry and the industries which have been severely impacted because of COVID-19.
Keywords: Covid-19, Pandemic, Impact on Tourism, Hotel Industry, Measures, Economic and Financial Crisis
Over the past few years, various countries have considered tourism as a contributor and aboon to economic growth and are widely accepted that year after year throughout the world a massive investment continues to pour in tourism development. The industry had been growing because of the tourists across the globe and had a major impact on the entire economical background. The tourism industry was proving to be boon for those suffering from lis pendente at the initial stages of traveling and planning their trips. The domino-effect of the virus has brought appalling pain and hardship to many individuals and organizations around the world. As per the research, Bloomberg predicts that also to the loss of more than 280,000 people, this epidemic may cost the world 2.7 trillion dollars, equivalent to the size of the British economy. However, the impact did not occur in all industries. For example, information and communication technology (ICT) and related industries are not as tight as other industries like tourism, aviation, etc.
Impact on Tourism Industry.- The outbreak of COVID-19 has exposed a major risk to visit various countries across the globe as the majority of travelers are from abroad. Perse if we look into tourists coming to India from Singapore and China are of major risks. The increasing cases of COVID-19 across the countries have led to the cancellation of many tours, which has already led to a large drop in the number of tourists. To control this pandemic, various countries have taken respective measures like:
To completely prevent the virus, the Malaysian Prime Minister announced a four-stage motion control order (MCO) because they expect the number of COVID-19 cases to continue to increase (Prime Minister’s Office, 2020)in the upcoming months... Tourism, therefore, must have effective policies to assist participants in the industry.
Further, the travel & tourism industry in India has been a significant contributor to the country’s GDP. The sector even generates a large employment base. So, when by mid-March, the popular tourist attractions in India started to close down, and the news on putting a halt on flying began to make rounds, we all started to predict the grim future of the travel industry in the country already. The shutting down of the iconic Taj Mahal on March 17, 2020, which usually attracts millions of visitors every year, has been a significant enough to assess the hard blow this pandemic was putting at us. Tourism, therefore, must have effective policies to assist participants in the industry.
Impacts of Pandemic and Crisis on Tourism as well as the Hotel Industry.- The tourism industry has always been one of the industries hardest hit by pandemics and crises. Throughout history, the industry has borne the brunt of major pandemics and plagues, notably, the Black Death (1346-1353), Spanish Flu (1918-1920 ), SARS (2002-2004), H1N1 Swine Flu(2009-2010) and Ebola Virus (2014-2016). The Spanish, for instance, travel for four months and killed 21 million people during that’s a short period. In addition to this, the swine flu pandemic also caused the Mexican tourism industry to lose nearly 1 million overseas tourists in five months, which meant a loss of about $2.8 billion. Overall, if we look into this, as transportation is a medium for spreading viruses, tourism is in an inimitable situation, so it is often used as a target to break through the virus transmission chain. Tourism has dynamic factors that involve sports and always encourages the spread of the virus. When traveling by air, people's movements increase the risk of virus transmission, which spreads faster than normal. Pandemics and disease outbreaks make the destination unattractive to tourists who do not want to take risks. Typically, the government sets travel restrictions, border closures, isolation, and social distance measures to minimize or reduce the spread of the virus. These measures, combined with the media sensation in news reports, make destinations affected by the pandemic unattractive. The result is fear of travel to those destinations and cancellation of flights, hotel reservations, and other scheduled events. During the outbreak of pandemics, almost everything connected to tourism is affected perhaps except for the environment.
On account of Coronavirus, the Indian tourism and hospitality industry is expecting a potential job loss of around 38 million. In Italy, one of the countries hardest-hit by COVID-19, popular tourist destinations like Rome, Venice, and Milan are deserted and occupancy rates have slumped to as low as 6%. On 26 March, the World Tourism Organization predicted a 20-30% loss in international arrivals in a press release. Meanwhile, the World Travel and Tourism Council has indicated that 50 million travel and tourism jobs are at risk due to COVID-19. Consequently, tourism is both a catalyst for the spread of viruses and a victim of the spread.
Despite the huge impact on the tourism and hotel industry, the loss of tourism seems to be the benefit of the environment. Satellite images of coronavirus spots around the world can be scraped off, and greenhouse gas emissions have also declined especially in industrialized countries. This has been widely circulated on social media. In China, for example, when the factory was closed and the city was blocked, emissions were reduced by by 25%. Whiles, there is a lot of panic about the pandemic, nature is undergoing a healing process healing. It is expected that by the time we are done with the pandemic, nature would have been troubleshot. Since the environment is the basic product of tourism, destinations will become more attractive. All businesses and service providers in the entire tourism value chain are affected, including farmers who supply vegetables to restaurants and taxi drivers who transport tourists from the airport to the hotel.
Impacts of COVID-19 on the Hotel Industry.- It is undeniable that the hotel industry is one of the hardest-hit industries of COVID-19. As a result of massive cancellations of flights, tours, events, reservations, and a resultant decline in inbound travel, hotel occupancy rates, and average room rates have dropped sharply causing unprecedented declines in profit margins. Today if we look at the scenario in Italy, all hotel reservations in Rome and Sicily have been canceled by 90% and 80%, respectively. For relatively relative tourist destinations like Ghana, hotel occupancy rates have decreased from 70% to less than 30% with some hotel reservation rates as low as 5%. According to IATA Updates COVID-19 Financial Impacts -Relief Measures Needed, IATA Press release on 5 March 2020, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) foresees international tourist arrivals declining by 1 to 3 percent in 2020 globally, translating into an expected loss of USD30 billion to USD50 billion in international visitor spending. Of this, Asia Pacific is expected to be the most affected region with a decrease of 9 to 12 percent in international tourist arrivals in 2020, down from growth of 5 to 6 percent forecast in early January.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA),2020 global revenue loss for the passenger business is expected between USD63 billion (11 percent) and USD114 billion (19 percent). The lockdown and other social distance agreements announced by the government to "level out the curve" have compounded the problem. The government is in the dilemma of how to suppress or flatten the curve without flattening the economies. However, utilities, wages and salaries, and other recurrent expenditures and statutory payments must be paid. From all intents and purposes, the hotel industry because of the tourism industry is headed for an unprecedented slump from COVID-19. According to experts, the pandemic will last for about two years. COVID-19 will severely hit the hotel industry, and it is generally agreed that the industry will not be the same again soon after the lockdown and travel restrictions are lifted. The tourism and hotel industry must aim at COVID-19's survival strategy.
This requires the refurbishing of hotel services to translate into the COVID-19 era and attract attention. After all, the magnitude of despair requires desperate measures. What must be outstanding is that the degree of COVID-19's impact on the entire economy of the destination and the entire tourism value chain requires the government to play a leading role in management? In fact, in most destinations, the government has taken a lot of austerity measures to help mitigate the devastating effects of the meld pandemic including hotels and restaurants. The forms adopted include relief payments, tax cuts, subsidies, credit facilities, and employment support.
Overall, if we say the tourism industry along with the hotel industry has seen a great downfall and the ground norm that remains to be highest has seen the greatest downfall due to this COVID-19. Nevertheless, hotels must also take their destiny into their own hands. The road to recovery is going to be a long one and hotels must start today. As it is said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step and hotel managers must take steps to institute crisis management plans which must embody survival strategies namely, Cost-cutting, Orderliness, Virtualization, Integration, and Domestication (COVID).
Concluding Remarks.- As a crux of the matter, if we take into consideration today’s scenario, it is quite evident that the tourism sector across the globe needs a redoubled and renewed push for its revival in the post-COVID-19 world. The government for its refurbishing must consider an immediate recovery package and plan that focuses on the tourism sector, not just because itis one of the worst affected, but also because it is debatably the largest source of employment and source of income for the nations around the world. Coronavirus may sojourn the peace of India's travel industry completely, but it has not yet defeated the spirit of people involved in the field. From the above discussion, it can be deduced that we are staring at a gradual or slow recovery scenario of the tourism industry in the world, nevertheless, the important thing to concentrate on is there’s the hope of recovery after all. The crackdown seems severe, but there is still hope. But for the tourism industry, this is an excellent time to develop a common safety and sanitation standard for hosting and serving its customers. We believe that if we persevere and stay together, whether you are a traveler or an operator, we will survive the difficulty, which is simply a nightmare.
By Priyal Kothari
Priyal Kothari is a 23 year-old-law-student on the Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies in Bangalore. She went to St. Patrick’s Vidya Bhawan school, in Jodhpur. She did internships at different law firms and also worked as an editor for various legal establishments. Her areas of interest include legal issues, politics, women empowerment, and equality.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario