Impact of Covid-19 on UK Tourism Industry

This report evaluates the impact of Covid-19 on the UK tourism industry, including the global crisis triggered by the pandemic, the importance of tourism in the UK economy, and the specific impact on the industry. Recommendations for overcoming the crisis are also provided.

Evaluate the impact of
the Covid19 pandemic
on the UK tourism
industry

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Definition background and context of Covid19 pandemic. Discuss how it has triggered a
global crisis in the tourism sector especially in the UK..............................................................3
The importance and place of tourism in the UK economy from findings..................................4
Impact of Covid-19 on Tourism..................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES:...............................................................................................................................7
Books and Journals.....................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The aim of this essay is to determine the impact of covid 19 on UK tourism industry.
Travel and tourism contributes major revenues in the economy of United Kingdom. The main
locations for tourism in UK are Oxford, York, London, Cambridge, Edinburgh and many more.
Tourism provides many job opportunities which increase the employment rate which contributes
in GDP. UK's tourism contributes 9% in GDP which impacts positively in the growth of
economy. Covid 19 had a great impact on the tourism sectors as people avoid travel during that
time (Foo, and et.al 2021). Travel restrictions created huge difference in numbers of economy in
UK. Non essential travel was restricted during 2020-21 which was the main reason for decrease
in tourism rate. This report will include the global crises in tourism sector, importance of tourism
in UK. After that it includes how tourism is affected by pandemic and recommendations how to
overcome this crises.
MAIN BODY
Definition background and context of Covid19 pandemic. Discuss how it has triggered a global
crisis in the tourism sector especially in the UK
Covid-19 is a viral infectious diseases which was first founded in 2019. It is diseases
which spread by coming into contact with the infectious person. It is the most dangerous virus
which direct hits on the life of people ( Jones, and Comfort, 2020). It was first found in the
Wuhan city of China. People suffer from severe illness and get symptoms of cold, cough, fever,
throat infection and lungs failure. It is mainly found in every age group people and a lot of
population already died with the infection of Covid-19 diseases. The tourism industry is getting
triggered with the impact of Covid-19 especially in the UK. The whole economy gets fluctuated
due to the fear of corona virus which has took many lives of people. It has caused the situation of
pandemic in which the countries are obliged to shut down all the operations whether it is
educational institution, business firms or markets. Only daily essential needs has provided at
home and people were not allowed to move apart from their home (Abbas, and et.al 2021). As
the situation gone critical, people were suffering from serious illness and the virus was
spreading highly across the globe. The main impact it has laid down on the business especially
tourism sector. Government has put several restrictions at many tourism places where people

usually find in a lot of number. All the places got banned and stop their operations in order to
calm the Covid-19 causes.
Every people was under the restriction where they could not even allowed to leave home.
So the, tourism sector has become out of customers and ruined their growth from the market. It
has certainly put negative impact on the tourism sector as people were become much concerned
about the health and safety (Škare, Soriano, and Porada-Rochoń, 2021). People were become
particular in choosing the right travel companies and destination once the lock-down gets over.
They were become keen to get put of home as soon as all the restriction gets eliminated. This
raise the concern for the tourism sector to become more sustainable, make change in their
operations and management practices. It has analysed that, the global world is affecting with the
pandemic and all the restriction government has laid on the country and people. It has made
travel difficult and people tend to cancel their plans and tourism companies face losses.
The importance and place of tourism in the UK economy from findings
Tourism is the most growing and vital sector in the England economy. This sector consist
many other areas of business across the country such as transport, leisure, sports, arts and retail.
The economic impact on the tourism is put emphasis on the contribution of travel and hotel
services. It has analysed from the data that over British economy has approx 106 million revenue
gained from this sector (Sinulingga, 2021). It is widely spread into the economy through
accommodation, food and transport and other services. Tourism is important part of the UK as
people want to spend time for enjoyment and fun activities by getting relaxation from daily
hectic schedule. The government also grant support to the these sectors in terms of giving funds,
subsidies and fair trade policies to grow into market. People find travel easy nowadays. As it is
not that tradition la way to look for hotels and spend much time in transportation. Every activity
is being digitally integrated in order to provide best customer service. Travel sector are known
for their quality and convenience services for people.
It gives rise to foreign direct investment as people from different regions came to search
for the best places to visits. This promotes the growth and development of the UK. As it is stated
earlier, this sector has various other areas in collaboration which are sports, transport, retail and
etc (Jaipuria, Parida, and Ray, 2021). They also get opportunities to boost their growth and
profitability. As the tourism sector is widely spread in UK economy, it enables job opportunities
for millions of people. Many individuals are preparing for hotel and tourism management

courses to seek jobs in travel and leisure sector as it has huge scope for individual growth.
Therefore, the economy gets down by facing declining in the travel sector due to Covid-19. It
gets difficult for UK to cope up with the crises and hold back the best position into market.
Tourism places are important part for the country and its cultures. It states the best places and
history of the country and creates awareness among the people. Therefore, it is vital for the
economy to gain back it position by providing necessary resources and help tourism sector to re
gain their market positions.
Impact of Covid-19 on Tourism
Travel and tourism industry is most important sector in UK. According to the recorded
number London is the most visited place in UK. Due to covid 19 pandemic, restrictions are
imposed on the non essential travels which affects the tourism. Many hotels and restaurants are
closed during this crises which results in unemployment. Air crafts and accommodations like
guest house face difficulties because of national lock down. This increases fear, anxiety and
depression among the people because of the negativity of business sector. All the public places
and tourism spots were shut down which have directly disturbed the livelihood of people. Many
students who were living in UK for their studies from all over the world were stuck in there
places with no means of living (Bakar, and Rosbi, 2020). People faced many difficulties due to
spread of covid because some people only depend on the services related to travel and tourism. It
resulted in global crises because of the nationwide lock down. It creates the revenue gap in
economy of UK. Although, for necessary and essential travel governments provide flexibilities to
citizens but it does not contribute to economy. People have to switch their businesses for living
as many people lost their jobs in pandemic. Organisations are failed to pay their employees
which is one of the major drawback of covid 19. Along with travel industries, many sectors like
food and shopping industries also faced crises. UK responded on this crises by spreading
awareness among the citizens for the covid restrictions. They take necessary precautions which
can minimize the effect of covid 19. Most of the organisations provide work from home
opportunities and some were operated on alternative days with 50% occupancy. Government of
UK formulate policies which involves maintaining social distance and made mask compulsory
for all. They impose penalties for violating these rules. All the public places and sightseeing
were closed so that tourists could not gather at that place (Yeh, 2021). This helped them to
overcome the pandemic at a great extent.

CONCLUSION
The report has concluded that tourism is the most vital sector in the economy. It
contributes are share in many areas like travel, transport, sports, entertainment and retail. In the
UK economy, the tourism sector is facing drastic hurdles due to Covid-19 pandemic. It has stops
the overall growth of this sector due to arrival of people or travellers across countries. Therefore,
the report has shown that it impacts on the employment, inflation and demand and supply of the
economy. The tourism companies need to involve necessary changes in their practices to run
travel operations effectively. Also, they need to provide best opportunities for the employment
and seeks support from government.

REFERENCES:
Books and Journals
Foo, and et.al 2021. The impact of COVID-19 on tourism industry in Malaysia. Current Issues in
Tourism, 24(19), pp.2735-2739.
Abbas, and et.al 2021. Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on tourism: transformational potential
and implications for a sustainable recovery of the travel and leisure industry. Current
Research in Behavioral Sciences, 2, p.100033.
Škare, M., Soriano, D.R. and Porada-Rochoń, M., 2021. Impact of COVID-19 on the travel and
tourism industry. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 163, p.120469.
Jaipuria, S., Parida, R. and Ray, P., 2021. The impact of COVID-19 on tourism sector in India.
Tourism Recreation Research, 46(2), pp.245-260.
Bakar, N.A. and Rosbi, S., 2020. Effect of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to tourism industry.
International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science, 7(4), pp.189-
193.
Yeh, S.S., 2021. Tourism recovery strategy against COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism Recreation
Research, 46(2), pp.188-194.
Sinulingga, S., 2021. Tourism & Covid-19 (Coronavirus Impact Inventory to Tourism
Stakeholders in North Sumatera). Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-
Journal (BIRCI-Journal) Vol, 4(1), pp.170-179.
Jones, P. and Comfort, D., 2020. The COVID-19 crisis, tourism and sustainable development.
Athens Journal of Tourism, 7(2), pp.75-86.