Impact of COVID-19 on the Hospitality Industry

Impact of COVID-19 on the Hospitality Industry

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to the hospitality industry. The strategies of restrictions on mobility and travel, orders to stay at home, social distancing, and community lockdowns have resulted in several hospitality businesses temporarily closing down, with some even going out of business permanently. These measures have also decreased the demand for services that were allowed to continue operating during the pandemic (WTO, 2020). Almost every restaurant restricted the services they offered to take-outs following government directives. On the other hand, travel restrictions have resulted in sharp declines in revenues and hotel occupancies, and so too have the orders to stay at home (Bartik et al., 2020).

Although the hospitality industry is now experiencing a slow recovery, profound impacts of COVID-19 continue to be experienced in the way businesses operate in this industry. Significant changes are expected of businesses as regards their operations in the business environment shrouded in COVID-19 so as to ensure the safety and health of customers and employees are maintained as well as to enhance the willingness of customers to become patrons once again (Gössling et al., 2020). Additionally, the pandemic is likely to impact the research agenda of scholars in the management and marketing arenas in the hospitality sector. With the challenges the pandemic era has posed, scholars in the hospitality industry are expected to shift the focus of their research to come up with solid and viable solutions for the industry. These scholars will need to offer solutions to several critical queries, such as the sentiments of customers regarding patronizing a hotel or a restaurant during the COVID-19 outbreak. Are the customers willing to patronize restaurants and hotels once again? If customers are unwilling to do so, what can the industry players do to make them want to return?

According to Gursoy et al., 2020, preliminary findings of a study done by the Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management staff indicate that easing restrictions on travel and opening sit-down restaurants will not have an immediate result in bringing back customers. More than 50% of individuals participating in the study stated that they were unwilling to dine in a restaurant as soon as the restrictions were lifted. Also, more than 50% of the participants stated that they were unwilling to travel to another destination or stay in a hotel. Approximately 25% of the participants said that they had already gone to a restaurant to dine, and another one-third was willing to stay in a hotel in a different travel destination soon. The findings from this study indicate that generally, customers were still uncomfortable with the idea of dining and sitting down in a restaurant, staying at a hotel, or even travelling to another destination.

In the hospitality industry, the breakeven point is mostly very high because of the high costs of running operations. Many hospitality businesses’ survival relies heavily on their product and service demand. Therefore, the industry needs to figure out what would compel customers to consume their products and services, which means intensive research will need to be conducted. The academic community and the hospitality industry urgently require conclusive research on operational and behavioural hospitality, management, and marketing as a guide to hospitality operations during this pandemic.

In conclusion, while the COVID-19 pandemic has caused academia and hospitality to charter unknown waters, it also presents an ideal opportunity for scholars. The COVID-19 magnitude and the effects that it has had on customers, employees, and operations are like none other. Hence, while future research may benefit from the use of previous theoretical and conceptual frameworks, it is of utmost importance that new knowledge is generated. This new knowledge can offer insights into the industry on how business operations can be transformed in light of the newly emerging wants and needs of customers that have arisen from the effects of the pandemic.

References

Bartik, A. W. , Bertrand, M. , Cullen, Z. B. , Glaeser, E. L. , Luca, M. , & Stanton, C. T. (2020). How are small businesses adjusting to COVID-19? Early evidence from a survey (No. w26989). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Gössling, S. , Scott, D. , & Hall, C. M. (2020). Pandemics, tourism and global change: A rapid assessment of COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1–20.

Gursoy, D. , Chi, C. G. , & Chi, O. H. (2020). COVID-19 Study 2 Report: Restaurant and Hotel Industry: Restaurant and hotel customers’ sentiment analysis. Would they come back? If they would, WHEN? (Report No. 2), Carson College of Business, Washington State University.

World Tourism Organization. Market Intelligence, & Promotion Section. (2007). UNWTO world tourism barometer (Vol. 5). World Tourism Organization.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

---

This initial assignment will focus on the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and business.

For the midterm I would like for you to write a 2-page, double spaced essay on the impact of COVID-19 on a particular industry/sector. You are free to choose any industry/sector that you like. Some possible sectors include retail, banking, financial services, hospitality, technology, etc.

For this assignment, you are to use reputable business sources (Crains, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, etc.)

While I am not the APA policy, you need to make every attempt to cite as appropriate