Impact of COVID 19 on Attraction Ability of Tourism Destinations

This report discusses the impact of COVID 19 on the attraction ability of tourism destinations and the reduction in the number of tourists. It explores the challenges faced by the tourism industry and provides strategies to overcome them. Topics covered include the controversy, issues, and case studies related to tourism destinations, as well as theories and concepts of tourism.

Current Issues in
Tourism and
Hospitality
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Table of Contents
Topic - Impact of COVID 19 on attraction ability of tourism destinations along with reducing
number of tourists............................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY .................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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Topic - Impact of COVID 19 on attraction ability of tourism destinations
along with reducing number of tourists.
INTRODUCTION
Tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industry but due to COVID 19 they
experienced huge decrease in sales which impact on the profitability ratio. It is also consider that
COVID 19 impact on the attraction ability of tourism destinations as well as it also reduce
numbers of tourists (Al‐Msallam, 2020). Tourism industry is profitability also get decrease in
due to COVID 19 pandemic as people not able to travel from one place to another as government
poses band or lock down for avoiding the movement of people at national and international level.
The respective report essay is based on the determining the impact of COVID 19 on attraction
ability of tourism destinations along with reducing number of tourists. Topics covered in this
report are related to the controversy, issue or case study related to tourism destination. Along
with this, it also include different theories as well as concepts of tourism.
MAIN BODY
COVID 19 is considered as disease which is caused by new strain of the Corona virus it
is highly impact on the tourism as well as travel behaviour. It is determined as one of the main
reason which affect the tourism decision as well as numbers of tourism visit. Italy and Spain is
considered as nations which hit earliest as well as hardest by the COVID 19 pandemic. In Italy
and Spain there are more than 34000 and 2800 confirm deaths respectively. Moreover respective
virus take more than 600000 death of people at the global level as well as after than every nation
started taking decision related to implementing lock down (Khan and et. al., 2020). Respective
sector is one of the affect industry because it is its nature which as both contributed to spread of
COVID 19 as well as it also experienced repercussion of disease along all the section of tourism
value as well as supply chain. Disease impact people as well as business at the global basis and
in order to control it, t is essential to adopt isolation, quarantine or reduce mobility that highly
impact on local, national as well as international tourism sector. Tourism industry has massive
impact of COVID 19 due to which almost every nation introduce travel restrictions in order to
minimise the spread of virus. Moreover according to the report developed by United Nation
World Tourism Organization, the global international tourism arrival may reduce by 58 percent
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to 78 percent in current year i.e. 2020. This will lead to potential loss of approx US $ 0.9 to US $
1.2 trillion at international tourism level.
Furthermore, there are several nations or world who implement lock down in order to
minimise the travel at local, national and international level and it help in minimising travel of
people by 80 to 90 percent. In respect of this government also close several places which attract
huge tourist such as amusement park, museums, famous locations, food street, local market,
beaches, hilly destination and many others. In order to avoid travelling government also banded
air as well as rail travelling (Makurumidze, 2020). It is also considered as in past decade the
travel and tourism industry gain huge profit as well as market share such as in 2017 the growth is
reached at the 1.3 billion at global level, then in 2018 it is 1.4 billion as well as in 2019 it is 1.5
billion. According to this data of current year there are several impact of COVID 19 on the
international tourism as its growth went down to the 22 percent in Q 1 as well as by 65 percent in
the first half of current year as compare to the last year ratio. In respect of data March 2020, the
UNWTO planned 3 scenarios which leads to possible decline in action of 58 percent to 78
percent for 2020. This is based on the initial point of opening the borders as well as lifting the
restrictions of travelling. In respect of UNWTO's forecast of March and updates of September
updates the recovery of tourism industry will be done in year 2021 as well as demand at
domestic level will be recover faster than the international level.
Moreover, impact of COVID 19 on attraction ability of tourism destinations along with
reducing number of tourists is also related to the airline failures such as government develop
decision to close all movements at national and international level (McNamara and et. al., 2020).
In respect of The International Air Transport Association (IATA), outlook of financial that
published in June showcase that airline globally are foreseen the loss of $ 84.3 billion in current
year for the net profit margin of – 20.1 percent. It is also initiated that revenue of industry will
also fall near by 50 percent to $ 419 billion from $ 838 billion in year 2019. In year 2021 loss are
predicted to cut by $ 15.8 billion as revenue enhanced by $ 598 billion (How COVID-19
Impacted Travel & Tourism Industry Globally,2020). In addition to this respective year is
considered as worst year as due to failure or band of airline or railways movement tourists not
able to travel which impact leads to decrease in reducing number of tourists. There are several
example of airline failure due to COVID 19 that leads to decrease tourists numbers at tourism
destinations such as LATAM which is largest airline which files for United State and it
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bankruptcy protection in May 2020 due to respective pandemic. Respective company
management says that they will continue flying as they restructures its debts in the bankruptcy
court.
Source - IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK ON
INTERNATIONAL TOURISM,2020
According to the above graph which is based on the impact of COVID 19 outbreak on
international tourism and international tourist arrival in January to August 2020. According to
the data world international tourist in 2019 is 1.5 billion but it decrease up to 70 percent from
January to August 2020. In respect of ratio of different nation it is determined that there is
decrease in international tourists arrival in between January to August 2020 such as Americas
reduce by 65 percent as well as in respect of Europe 68 percent was decrease. According to the
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Illustration 1: IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK ON

data of Africa 69 percent ration is decrease as well as in respect if Middle East it is by 69
percent. Asia and The Pacific reason get reduction of tourism ratio is to the 79 percent.
In United Kingdom there are numbers of tourist destinations such as The UK's All in one
destination, Scotland's capital, Roman Era Bath, Ancient Stonehenge and Medieval Salisbury,
Wonderful Windsor, London Eye, The University Towns of Cambridge and Oxford, Canterbury
and many more. These all destination get impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic as domestic,
national and international tourist not able to travel from one place to another. It is so because
there is lock down implemented by government as well as there is several other reason such as
change in tourist behaviour (Musavengane, Leonard and Mureyani, 2020). It is so because in
order to get protected from respective virus it is essential for a person to adopt isolation as well
as avoid gathering or crowd. Due to which people avoid travelling that affect the tourism
destination profitability. Along with this it is also determined that tourism destination are highly
impacted even if they are taking steps for avoiding the spread of virus. Through analysis it is
determined that slowly the almost every destination get impacted by the respective virus due to
which they implemented lock down as well as travel restrictions. This means tourist destination
that tourism reliant are not have tourist entry in nation. It is so several tourism destination
experiencing the economic decline (Rittichainuwat and et. al., 2020). This shows that several
economic destination get economic impacts from COVID 19 as several other industries based on
the tourists are not get business. This will include restaurant, hotel, travel, bars, local market near
destination and so on.
According to the case of Dubai's tourism they announced reopening the city destination
for the international tourism on 2020 July 7th but people around the world still afraid of doing
travelling (COVID-19 impact and survival strategy in business tourism market: the example of
the UAE MICE industry, 2020). This show that due to COVID 19 pandemic the customer
behaviour get change of tourist as they want to be isolated for preventing from virus.
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Source - COVID-19: These countries are most at risk from
falling tourism, 2020
According to the above mentioned chart or graph it is determined that in respect of The
World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), travel as well as tourism commendation 14.3 and
13.0 percent respectively. The Spain's and Italy's GDP (Gross domestic production) previous
year include direct contribution to the hotel, air lines, restaurants, travel agents as well as others
get impact of billion dollars or euros. In United State the whole impact of travel and tourism is
considered by smaller less 8.6 GDP but even at the less rate respect industry is directly support
United State by developing opportunity of employment of more then 6 million (Rondeau, 2020).
Moreover, this will contributes to the employment of 16.8 million jobs at the respective nation
according to World Travel and Tourism Council. This show that countries who are highly relay
on the travel and tourism sector impacted mostly due to COVID 19 pandemic as well as due to
this there is also increase in loss lose or unemployment at global level.
There are numbers of strategies or plans which help tourism industry in overcoming the
impact of COVID 19 on attraction ability of tourism destinations along with reducing number of
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Il
lustration 2: COVID-19: These countries are most at risk
from falling tourism

tourists. Moreover for this it is essential for different sectors who are related to tourism
destination to take proper decision and adopt chance rapidly as well as they also need to show
that they are taking measures related to pandemic. It is so because through that they able to gain
customers trust and encourage them to visit different tourism destination. In this firs measure is
to ensure safety of public, in respect of this different tourism destination need to develop
strategies through which they can ensure that they are ensuring the safety of their tourist who
visited their (Stankov and Gretzel, 2020). In respect of this, when there is any booking conducted
for the specific destination then management must take a decision according to that they must all
the tourist get message regarding the guidelines. In addition to this they also get time slot for
visiting the destination so that there is not huge crowd come as well as management of
destination also develop decision that if any person or tourist come without booking they will not
allow to go to place. Along with this, their will also must be a rule that local people also need to
do booking as well as their must be limited or few stalls of things such as food, beverages,
clothings or any other item.
In current situation of COVID 19 pandemic, travel business need to start their business at
the initial level according to which they need to conduct effective planning which help in getting
trust of travellers. In respect of this business operating at different tourism destination need to be
customer oriented rather than the efficiency oriented. It is so because through that they able to
focus on the customer safety as well as security measures related to the COVID 19 pandemic. In
respect of this it must be rule developed by destination management that every tourist coming to
destination need to show their medical report as well as they also need to do whole sanitization
process done by destination management (COVID-19: Fast decision-making helps travel
companies survive, 2020). It is so because through this management able to ensure that tourist
coming from domestic, national or international level are fit as well as there is not chance of
being infected by COVID 19. The third strategy for tourism destination in order to avoid the
impact of COVID 19 is to take care of their employees truly. For a company or management it is
essential to take care of employees in the good as well as in bad. In respect of current situation,
at different tourism destination there are several people related and their source of leaving is also
depend upon the tourist visit at respective place. In respect of this it is responsibility of tourism
destination management to take care of those people in respect of this they must aware them
about the guidelines as well they also need to provide safety equipment of COVID 19. This is
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not only essential for the people leaving at the tourism destination as well as it is also necessary
for tourist who visit at respective place. It is so because through that they feel safe as well as
secure from the spread of COVID 19. Furthermore the next method is related to the adopting
high speed, according to which due to COVID 19 all suppliers are disconnected due to their
income source get decreased or vanished (Šťastná and et. al., 2020). But now management can
aware suppliers to use technology medium as through that they can do booking of destinations
facilities through it. According to this strategy, individual who want to visit at specific
destination can do booking of room or hotel, restaurant, car and so on through online source.
This will beneficial for both tourist as well as businessman as there is less chance of
contamination of the COVID 19. These are some of the main strategies or concepts which tourist
destination management may adopt for conducting their operations in effective manner. In
addition to this there are several theories of tourism which can be adopted by management of
tourism destination for improving their situation from the COVID 19. This will include theories
like Leiper's Tourism System model, Matheison and Wall travel – Buying behaviour model,
Doxey's Irritation index model and many more.
The Leiper's Tourism System model which is developed by Neil Leiper who as an
Australian tourism scholar who died in year 2010. The Leiper's Tourism System model is
introduced in 1990. His work was highly influential as well as continues to effective cited
throughout tourism literature. In respective model of tourism there are four major areas such as
tourism system, partial industrialisation, tourist attraction strategy as well as tourism attraction
system. Leiper's Tourism System model has high influence on the travel and tourism sector
academic literature and it also conceptualise the tourism effectively. According to the Leiper he
not wanted individual to visit every part of the tourist sector as considering separated as well as
independent. It is so because all components of tourism are interrelated as all help in conducting
every work in effective manner (Стреймикиене and Корнеева, 2020). Moreover according to
Leiper's Tourism System model there are main two kinds of travellers i.e. departing travellers as
well as returning travellers.
Another major model of tourism is Matheison and Wall travel – Buying behaviour model
is developed in 1982 which is based on the linear five stage model of travel buying behaviour.
According to that it is essential for the destination management to understand the need and
demand of travellers so that management can develop decision accordingly. In this according to
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that management need to gather information and evaluate images that what their potential tourist
want from specific destination. In this they want to understand want all perspectives travellers
are considering in respect of COVID 19, according to that management will develop strategies or
plan respectively. In addition to this in Matheison and Wall travel – Buying behaviour model
management of tourism destination also develop strategies to attract tourist by ensuring that they
are safe as well as secure from COVID 19. Moreover, after the attaining the services by traveller
tourism destination management will develop strategies or plans respectively according to
experienced of tourist. The next model of tourism is Doxey's Irritation index which is introduced
by Irridex in year 1975 according to this model there are main aspects of tourism which need to
considered by management of tourism destination management in order to overcome impact of
COVID 19 (Mrsic, Surla and Balkovic, 2020). these aspects are Euphoria in this management of
destination will do little planning for visitors welcome, this is not consider appropriate for the
COVID 19 pandemic. On their aspect is Apathy in which visitor are mainly totally for granted as
well as contact become more formal which is also not suitable in the situation of COVID 19.
After that Annoyance stage come which is saturations are approached and local individual have
misgivings. In this planner generally attempt to control through enhancing infrastructure as
compare to limit the growth. The last of Doxey's Irritation index mode is Antagonism which is
based on open expression of irritation as well as planning. In this effective promotion is
conducted in order to show that specific tourism destination is effective as well as secure for
tourist from COVID 19.
CONCLUSION
By conducting analysis of above mentioned topic are related to determining the impact of
COVID 19 on attraction ability of tourism destinations along with reducing number of tourists.
In COVID 19 pandemic people are avoiding to get contact with other people as well as they are
avoiding going in crowed place. Moreover, government also develop proper guidelines related to
opening as well as closing of tourist destination in order to minimise that spread of COVID
around the world. In addition to this, destination guideline also include information related to
how much person can gather at the specific plan at a time. So this is directly impacting on the
tourists coming to visit at the destination. This will leads to decrease in sales that is related to
decline in sales as well as profitability ratio.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al‐Msallam, S., 2020. The impact of tourists' emotions on satisfaction and destination loyalty–an
integrative moderated mediation model: tourists' experience in Switzerland. Journal of
Hospitality and Tourism Insights.
Khan, N. and et. al., 2020. Factors Affecting Tourism Industry and Its Impacts on Global
Economy of the World. Available at SSRN 3559353.
Makurumidze, R., 2020. Coronavirus-19 Disease (COVID-19): a case series of early suspects
reported and the implications towards the response to the pandemic in
Zimbabwe. Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection.
McNamara, J. and et. al., 2020. COVID-19, systemic crisis, and possible implications for the
wild meat trade in Sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental and Resource Economics, 76(4),
pp.1045-1066.
Mrsic, L., Surla, G. and Balkovic, M., 2020. Smart Tourist Destination Management Using
Demand Forecasting Techniques: Using Big Data for Destination Demand Forecasting
as Part of a Destination Management System. In Handbook of Research on Smart
Technology Models for Business and Industry (pp. 273-293). IGI Global.
Musavengane, R., Leonard, L. and Mureyani, S., 2020. Doing tourism in Southern Africa amid
the coronavirus pandemic: Navigating political, socio-economic and environmental
inequalities. Development Southern Africa, pp.1-17.
Rittichainuwat, B. and et. al., 2020. Resilience to crises of Thai MICE stakeholders: A
longitudinal study of the destination image of Thailand as a MICE destination. Tourism
management perspectives, 35, p.100704.
Rondeau, D., 2020. Forthcoming, Environmental and Resource Economics. Citation: Rondeau,
D., B. Perry, and F. Grimard. The consequences of COVID-19 and other disasters for
wildlife and biodiversity. Forthcoming, 2020, Environmental and Resource Economics.
Stankov, U. and Gretzel, U., 2020. Tourism 4.0 technologies and tourist experiences: a human-
centered design perspective. Information Technology & Tourism, 22(3), pp.477-488.
Šťastná, M. and et. al., 2020. Cultural Tourism as a Possible Driver of Rural Development in
Czechia. Wine Tourism in Moravia as a Case Study. European Countryside, 12(3),
pp.292-311.
Стреймикиене, Д. and Корнеева, Е., 2020. Economic impacts of innovations in tourism
marketing. Terra Economicus, 18(3), pp.182-193.
Online
How COVID-19 Impacted Travel & Tourism Industry Globally. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:<https://infomineo.com/covid-19-impacted-travel-tourism-industry/>.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK ON INTERNATIONAL TOURISM.
2020. [Online]. Available through:<https://infomineo.com/covid-19-impacted-travel-
tourism-industry/>.
COVID-19 impact and survival strategy in business tourism market: the example of the UAE
MICE industry. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-00630-8>.
COVID-19: These countries are most at risk from falling tourism. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/coronavirus-covid19-travel-
tourism-gdp-economics/>.
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COVID-19: Fast decision-making helps travel companies survive. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.accenture.com/in-en/insights/travel/coronavirus-fast-decisions>.
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