The Effect of Covid-19 on Tourism Industry

Name: Reem Almansoori

industry. However, the most impacted industry is the tourism industry which has faced a

great downfall due to the cancellations of flights and restrictions on international travelling.

The main objective of the following study was to investigate the effect of Covid-19 on the

Tourism industry of UAE. For this purpose, we have focused on the qualitative research

method in which both primary and secondary sources have been used. In this research, 100

participants were selected who responded through open-ended questions via email. The

findings of the research indicated that Covid-19 has greatly impacted the tourism industry of

UAE in which the growth of the industry has been declined, the employment rate has been

decreased and the hospitality sector has also been greatly impacted.

Table of Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................2

Introduction..........................................................................................3

Literature Review.................................................................................3

Research Question................................................................................5

Aims and Objectives.............................................................................6

Methodology.........................................................................................6

Results..................................................................................................8

Discussion.............................................................................................9

Conclusion..........................................................................................10

References..........................................................................................11

Appendices.........................................................................................12
 Research Report

The Effect of Covid-19 on Tourism Industry

Introduction
COVID-19 has affected different industries all over the world which include the

educational sector, healthcare sector, tourism sector etc. Tourism is considered as one of the

major economic sectors of the world which have been affected badly due to the pandemic of

COVID-19 (Gössling, Scott, & Hall, 2020). The decline in this industry has resulted in the

loss of employment. The decline in this sector occurred because social distancing is to be

maintained, crowding is to be avoided, people were asked to stay at home and work from

home so that the risk of spreading COVID-19 could be reduced. The export revenue of the

tourism industry has been lost by about $1.2 trillion. All the countries of the world have

restricted travel agencies due to the spread of coronavirus. Incoming and outgoing flights

have been suspended and the lockdown has been implemented in different countries as 93%

of the population of the world has been living in the countries that are affected by a

coronavirus (Cheng, Barceló, Hartnett, Kubinec, & Messerschmidt, 2020). The problem

statement of this paper states that the tourism industry has been affected negatively due to

COVID-19 as the economic growth of it has been reduced as compared to that of before

COVID-19. It is important to discuss this problem because most of the tourism and travel

companies have faced a downfall due to COVID-19 and have faced a decline in their

revenues.

Literature Review
Foo et al. (2020) conducted research regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the

tourism industry in 2020. It was explained by the researchers that in Malaysia the first case

was detected on 25th January 2020 in which three Chinese citizens were involved. The
increasing cases of COVID-19 all over the world resulted in the cancellation of a lot of tours

(Foo, Chin, Tan, & Phuah, 2020). The researchers aimed to explain the impact of COVID-19

on travelling and travelling agencies as effective policies were implemented by different

countries to control the spread of coronavirus. Travelling was banned all over the world

which resulted in the downfall of the tourism industry all over the world which in turn

resulted in affecting the economy of the countries as this sector is considered a highly

economic industry. It was concluded by the researchers that the tourism industry of Malaysia

has been greatly affected due to COVID-19 as most of the travel plans of Malaysia have been

delayed and cancelled due to the threat of virus spread.

Research conducted by Skare et al. (2021) regarding the impact of COVID-19 on

tourism and travel agency has stated this pandemic is a great shock for the tourism industry

because it is necessary to maintain social distance. The researchers used PSVAR on the data

from the period of 1995 to 2019 in about 185 countries all over the world. It was stated by the

researchers that the recovery of the travel and tourism industry from the pandemic of

COVID-19 will take more time than that of past pandemics (Škare, Soriano, & Porada-

Rochoń, 2021). The researchers recommended the implementation of public and private

policy support in the tourism industry so that sustainable operations could be performed and

maintained. The researchers concluded that to overcome the negative impact of COVID-19,

the tourism industry should develop innovative risk management methods and techniques so

that they could deal with the crises faced due to COVID-19.

Altuntas and Gok (2021) conducted research regarding the effect of the pandemic of

COVID-19 on the domestic tourism and travel industry in 2021. The researchers explained

that the decision to quarantine all over the world due to COVID resulted in affecting the

hospitality and tourism industry directly and negatively. DEMATEL method was used by the

researchers for explaining the decision of quarantine. The researchers have used the
observational method in this research study where they considered the case of Turkey

(Altuntas & Gok, 2021). The researchers explained that lockdown was implemented in the

country which affected the tourism and hospitality industry. The researchers followed a

survey where the survey related to domestic tourism was considered from the Turkish

Statistical Institute. The findings of this study indicated that the implementation of the

DEMATEL method can help in reducing the effect of COVID-19 on the hospitality and

tourism industry and also helps in overcoming the challenges of this industry.

A study conducted by Bakar et al. (2020) explained the impact of COVID-19 on the

tourism industry all over the world. The researchers have explained that the coronavirus was

spread from an infected person through sneeze or cough that’s why social distancing was

avoided. This disease was spread from China to different regions of the world and also

resulted in 40,589 deaths till 1st April 2020 (Bakar & Rosbi, 2020). This paper discussed that

coronavirus was spread through breathing and its symptoms include fever, cough, flu etc. The

effects of COVID-19 have also resulted in employment all over the world and also affected

the tourism industry badly. The researchers discussed that COVID-19 has created a panic

environment and lowered the economic factors in the tourism industry. The results of this

study stated that the governments should implement prevention plans and develop anti-virus

for decreasing the effects of COVID-19 on the tourism industry.

Research Question
The main research question on which the whole research study is based is determined

as follows,

“What is the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism industry?”

The following research question is directly linked with the defined problem statement

and identifies the main challenges faced by the tourism industry due to Covid-19.
Aims and Objectives
The main aim of the following research paper is to determine the impact of Covid-19 on

the travel and tourism sector which is considered to be an important sector of almost every

country. The main focus of the study is on the travel and tourism sector of the UAE and

discovers the challenges faced by the tourism industry during the outbreak. However, the

following research study will also determine some strategies to deal with the challenges

created due to the Covid-19. However, the main objectives of the research study are

determined as follows:

 To understand the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism sector.

 To examine the challenges faced by the tourism industry due to outbreak

 To investigate the negative impacts on the travel and tourism industry of UAE due to

Covid-19.

Methodology
There are different methods that could be used in the research such as qualitative

research method and quantitative research methods. A quantitative research method is based

on the statistical analysis of the numerical data (Goertzen, 2017). On the other hand, a

qualitative research method is a method that involves analysis of non-numerical data through

observation, survey, interviews and secondary resources (Mohajan, 2018). We have used the

qualitative method to conduct the research study in which we have focused on both secondary

and primary resources. There are different methods to collect the data such as primary and

secondary resources. We have used secondary methods to collect the data from the journal

articles, books and company’s databases. We have used the primary resources to collect the

information through the online survey questionnaire. However, the process of the interview

has been neglected in this research due to the current state of a pandemic in the country.
 The sampling technique which has been used to determine the population sample is

purposeful sampling. A purposeful sampling method also known as selective sampling is a

technique in which only those participants are selected for the research study that could

provide in-depth and detailed information regarding the subject matter (Pacho, 2015). It is

considered to be highly subjective in which an eligibility criterion is determined to select the

data. We have also determined the eligibility criteria by focusing on inclusion and exclusion

criteria for the participants.

For the survey, we have selected about 50 participants. The participants involve the

employees and managers of travel companies of Abu Dhabi. As the research study is directly

linked with the tourism industry, so the participants related to the tourism sector has been

selected for the study. However, the inclusion criteria for the participants are the subjects that

have been provided valid informed consent and who belong to travel and tourism companies.

The exclusion criteria for the research are the subjects who failed to fulfil the online survey

questionnaire and do not belong to the travel and tourism company. The sample size was

taken on the basis of the people who filled the online questionnaire survey. The participants

who ignored the survey were excluded from the research study therefore the intended sample

size is different from the actual sample size.

The main research instrument which was used in the following research is

questionnaire survey, journal articles, books, archival documents and company’s databases.

The survey questionnaire was conducted through email due to the current pandemic situation.

The participants from some of the selected tourism companies were contacted through email.

The online survey questionnaire included only open-ended questions. However, the number

of questions was limited due to the shortage of time.

consent form to the participants which indicated that the participants could leave the research

study whenever they want (Kadam, 2017). The participants were also given surety of

protection of their personal data through informed consent and were assured of their

anonymity in the research. Moreover, any type of deceptive practices was avoided in the

research study along with providing the right to the participants to withdraw the research any

time they want.

Results
The results of the study were determined through thematic content analysis. Thematic

content analysis is a popular method that is applied to a set of texts such as interview

transcripts (Moser & Korstjens, 2018). In the following research study, only the open-ended

questions were included, therefore this type of analysis is a suitable method for this type of

research. The responses of the participants were recorded through detailed texts. In the

following research, we have closely examined the data to identify and recognize the main

themes in the research study such as topics, ideas and patterns related to the subject matter.

The information collected through the books and journal articles were also categorized on the

basis of the research to examine the common themes of the research study.

However, through the open-ended survey, it has been indicated that most of the

companies are facing problems and their sales and profit have been decreased to a great

extent. According to the information collected through UN World Tourism Organization, it

has been indicated that the international tourist arrivals have been dropped to 22% during the

first quarter of the year 2020. Through the responses of the managers of the tourism

companies, it has been indicated that they are facing problems related to employees’ salary,

loan repayment and payment of an account payable. The restrictions on travelling abroad and
cancellations of the flights are the most common issue faced by the tourism sector due to

Covid-19.

According to the information collected through the research articles, it has been

indicated that the air booking from the Middle East has faced about 65% decline in the first

quarter of the year 2020 (Baum & Hai, 2020). The results of the study also indicated that the

Covid-19 have declined the employment rate in the tourism sector. Due to the decline in GDP

growth and sales, the companies have fired many employees which have posed a negative

impact on the employment sector. The results also indicated that the pandemic could also

lead to an annual decline of approximately between 60% to 80% in the growth of the tourism

industry. Along with the tourism industry, the hospitality business such as hotels has also

faced cancellations of bookings due to the current pandemic situation. In this case, the hotel

industry has lost about $150 billion which is affecting the employees in the industry.

Discussion
The results of the research study have indicated a decline in growth in the tourism

industry. The result can be supported by research conducted by Kumudumali (2020) who

indicated that the tourism sector of different countries have faced a loss of 1.1 billion at the

international tourist arrivals. Moreover, the tourism industry has also faced a loss of about

$910 to 1.1 trillion in terms of export revenues and loss of jobs due to the wider spread of the

outbreak (Kumudumali, 2020). The research has also indicated that the economic growth of

the country has been disturbed due to the sessions of quarantines, travel restrictions and

social distancing.

The results of the research study have also indicated that the banning of travelling

abroad has led to the cancellations of international flights which have caused a great loss to

the travel companies. The following result can also be supported by a research study

conducted by Foo et al. (2020) which concluded that the increased case of Covid-19 all over
the world has resulted in the cancellation of a lot of tours. However, some of the effective

policies were implemented by different countries to control the pandemic but still, travelling

was banned all over the world which has resulted in the downfall of the tourism industry and

affected the economy of the country (Foo, Chin, Tan, & Phuah, 2020). Moreover, Altuntas et

al. (2021) have also supported this result by conducting research on both domestic and

international tourism. The researchers concluded that due to the quarantine all over the world,

the hospitality and tourism industry has been greatly impacted which is creating problems for

certain travelling companies (Altuntas & Gok, 2021).

Furthermore, the results of our study also indicated that along with the tourism

industry the hospitality industry has also been greatly impacted. The following result is also

supported by the research conducted by Baum and Hai (2020) who concluded that the global

hospitality, travel and tourism industry faces a precarious future across their operating

sectors. Due to this crisis, the certain business will not emerge in their former shape at all

(Baum & Hai, 2020). The research suggested that some of the small business related to the

hospitality sector may not reopen after the pandemic in Europe and the USA which is a

moment of concern.

The results of our research study totally align with the researches done previously.

However, there are some limitations and gaps that are necessary to identify. Different

researches have been done on the phenomenon focusing on different countries, but no

research has been done on UAE so the following study can fulfil this gap. There are some

limitations to the following research study too. For example, the results of the study could be

biased as they are based on the responses which could influence our estimations.

Conclusion
Overall, it can be concluded that Covid-19 has greatly and negatively impacted the

tourism industry of the UAE. The sectors which have been greatly affected are the growth of
travel companies, the decline in employment rate, cancellation of flights and impact on the

hospitality sector. In this case, it is necessary for the tourism industry to develop some

strategies which could help in dealing with this outbreak. Moreover, the following research

study can be helpful for different travelling companies who are facing problems due to

Covid-19 and can implicate by providing information regarding the strategies to overcome

the challenge.
References
Altuntas, F., & Gok, M. S. (2021). The effect of COVID-19 pandemic on domestic tourism:
A DEMATEL method analysis on quarantine decisions. International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 92, 102719.

Bakar, N. A., & Rosbi, S. (2020). Effect of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to tourism
industry. International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science, 7(4),
189-193.

Baum, T., & Hai, N. T. (2020). Hospitality, tourism, human rights and the impact of COVID-
19. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 15-23.

Cheng, C., Barceló, J., Hartnett, A. S., Kubinec, R., & Messerschmidt, L. (2020). COVID-19
government response event dataset. Nature human behaviour, 4(7), 756-768.

Foo, L. P., Chin, M. Y., Tan, K. L., & Phuah, K. T. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on
tourism industry in Malaysia. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-5.

Goertzen, M. J. (2017). Introduction to quantitative research and data. Library Technology

Gössling, S., Scott, D., & Hall, C. M. (2020). Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid
assessment of COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 29(1), 1-20.

Kadam, R. A. (2017). Informed consent process: A step further towards making it

Kumudumali, S. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism. University of Peradeniya, 1-14.

Mohajan, H. K. (2018). Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related

Moser, A., & Korstjens, I. (2018). Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 3:
Sampling, data collection and analysis. European Journal of General Practice, 24(1),
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Pacho, T. (2015). Exploring participants’ experiences using case study. International Journal
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Škare, M., Soriano, D. R., & Porada-Rochoń, M. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on the travel
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Appendices
Survey Questionnaire

1. What issues you have faced in your company due to Covid-19?

2. How many flights have been cancelled due to Covid-19?

3. How many employees have been fired due to economic pressure?

4. Has the growth of the company declined due to Covid-19?

5. What are the main operating pressures that your company is currently facing?

6. How are you currently planning to cope up with the cash flow shortage?

7. How the development of your company has been affected during the first quarter of

2020?

8. How your relations with the hospitality sector have been impacted due to Covid-19?