The Impact of COVID-19 on Australia Tourism & Hospitality Industry

This report examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian tourism and hospitality industry. It discusses the decline in international visitors, the closure of hotels, and the job losses in the airline industry. The report also provides key strategies and recommendations for the revival of the industry.

THE IMPACT OF THE
COVID-19 ON AUSTRALIA
TOURISM &
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on Australian Tourism and Hospitality Industry.............3
Key strategies recommendations.................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Tourism industry is now emerging globally. Tourism is connected with people travelling
for either business purpose or leisure. The study is focus on Australian's Tourism and hospitality
Industry. Australian tourism will experience high growth over next two decades. The report will
focus on impact of the covid-19 pandemic on tourism industry. The report consider overseas
visitors, New Zealand visits and fares to Australian carriers. The report elaborate main strategic
recommendations that Tourism Australia recommended in their revival plan.
MAIN BODY
The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on Australian Tourism and Hospitality Industry.
International passenger traffic has reached to record levels last year at 34.9 million.
Australian hotels have seen a boon lasting for another two years as tourism spending and
predicted to reach 167 million by 2025. But as Covid arises, situation become different and even
worse. Hotel owners currently at an empty horizon in which majority of hotels are planning to
remain close. Most of hotels have closed or remaining hotels are planning to close. Almost 19%
hotels have shut down that includes 26% regional or 15% state capital (Australian Hotels
Industry Sentiment Survey.2021).
Covid-19 negatively impact tourism industry in so many ways that majorly lower down
its tourism growth and economy. Covid-19 has continued to severely impact overall process in
travelling like it limit arrival of passenger (Polyzos, Samitas, and Spyridou, 2020). Many other
countries around the world have now introduced travel restrictions in an attempt to contain its
spread. For example, Queensland has announced biggest lock down and changes to travel
restrictions that includes the hotpots and borders. Some of its major restrictions for instance, only
100 people allowed to gather across Queensland. People should wear a mask when at airport or
on international or domestic flight arriving or departing in Queensland. After Covid 19 cases, all
travellers must take travel insurance.
New Zealand also imposed lock down when covid 19 arises. Now New Zealand and
Australia are planning for a travel bubble in which it include quarantine free flow of folks
between countries. Travel Bubble include countries that have low number of Covid cases. Large
number of domestic and international visitors decreases from last four to five months (Dube,
Nhamo and Chikodzi, 2020). Covid-19 also impact employment for example, Australia Qantas

Airline cut almost 6,000 jobs as Covid hits (New Zealand tightens quarantine as Australia
decides on travel bubble.2021).
Australian airlines announced a plan to cut down fares by billion of dollars. The plan
involves 100 planes for almost a year and retires its remaining Boeing. Qantas airline shares are
lower down by 40 percent at the end of year and recovered somewhat from March. Airline job
losses that include, 1500 in ground operations, 1050 in cabin crew and almost 630 in engineering
(The COVID-19 Outbreak and Australia's Education and Tourism Exports.2021). This crisis hits
really hard and its effects will seen in Australian tourism for a long period of time. In Australia
around 28000 international visitors arrived every single day for business purpose or leisure.
Decrease in international arrivals is seen since Covid 19 has an adverse effect on Australian
travel businesses and country experience sharp fall in economic activity (Covid-19 impact:
Australia’s Qantas airline to cut 6,000 jobs as virus hits.2021).
Key strategies recommendations
Delivering motivated and skilled workforce
The hospitality skills do not involve with direct interact with customer, but this can be
done by management team to satisfy their goals or objective. Due to having Covid-19 tourism
and hospitality industry need to take care about heir customer who are visiting to their place
(Australia,2020). Along with this employee should be known rules and regulation regarding
pandemic and well-skilled in such ways:
Customer services skills:-
In general employee who are working in any companies should never forgotten about that
salaries and wages are mostly pay by their customer and some other expenditure through
companies get benefits. On the other hand in Australia Tourism and hospitality hotels employee
and manager must required to satisfying their customer needs. While due to having Covid-19
they need to keep their main focused on hygienic and cleanliness in environment. Excellent
customer services skills can be shown by understanding customer needs and able to deliver
positive customer services experience. Manager in organization should also keep them
motivating as well encouraging them for doing their work and provide them needed resources.
Networking skills:-

One of the best skilled in hospitality is networking skills in which employee would keep
them self-motivated and able to work with effectively. Developing loyalty in customer who
might be had again to visit their hotels for long run (Divisekera and Nguyen, 2018). It is most
important for employers that customer is returning to their hotels or restaurant while because of
creating the relationship between. Employers must be well-skilled in language and other things
such as easy understand the term like customer relationship management, during having jobs
interview and enhancing once chances for hired. In Covid-19 plan post managers things that
employee should be well-confident in facing their customer and if customer are facing many
issues than they have to help in solving their problems.
Communication skills:-
These skills in Australia Tourism and hospitality are high values through which they can
make their more customer and developed their market position. The important things in
industries that they have to maintain their communication skill with other customer and to other
business sector. In the field of Tourism and Hospitality, as each day they usually involved with
different ages, religion, nationalities and some other requirements. It means that employees in
Tourism and hospitality are more able to communicate in such a way that in representing their
business (Green,2020). While at same time they should know that what they are speaking must
be easily understood to customer and that is related to them only. It is mandatory in effective
communication and having interpersonal skill's or health care workers and doctor that might be
included ability to collect information, proper advice and better clinical.
Flexibility skills:-
While comparing with other business Australia Tourism and hospitality jobs are mainly
often demand of employee in working hours like weekend or nights. It is also sometime to be
necessary that to switch in other tasks or some other situation that could be arisen. Just likely
new ways in working with after passing pandemic, all about the open mind set, being always
able to work under the pressure, adjusting new tasks and having unexpected deadlines.
Language skills:-
These skills are most important in tourism and Hospitality industry for making their more
customer as well satisfying them by proper language for having better communication. While

this can also increase the value of employee towards their work and customer. Speaking with the
proper language enables to develop relationship in promoting values and loyalty to customer
satisfaction.
Commitment:-
The things that have be noted that tourism and Hospitality industry being started with
young people (Gurran, Zhang and Shrestha, 2020). As same the Australia tourism and
Hospitality industry sector have been started from the young people, but they do not have more
demanding for their work either getting bored with their work faster. If sometime in Covid-19
they will fail to understand their customer, then no means of jobs and no matter how much costs
will be pay. For making their tourism and Hospitality industry well-developed they are required
to have partnership or individual with proper employee and skilled labour about things which are
to be kept in mind due to having pandemic.
Organizational skills:-
It is more necessary part of organization structure to maintain their safety and health
environment for their customer satisfaction. In recent time Covid-19 they must have to maintain
the proper decorum of organization and basically followed the government rules as well
regulation that have been given by countries (Scherrer,2020). Strong time management skills
must be required for employee in which people can easily gets satisfied with the services of
organization.
Cultural awareness:-
Tourism and Hospitality industry are more likely to deal with the variety of customer in
having from different nationalities along with different cultural backgrounds. Australia are facing
various problems with handling their customer from different national or local culture that could
be more difficulties for them in making them satisfied with various things. Due to have Covid-19
they must have to follow some rules that social distancing must be maintained and provide them
well-rooms for their different culture people. With full planned and keep in mid about their
Covid-19 rules and regulation.
TOWS strategies matrix
Threat:

Emerging new hotels option through which many customer gets satisfied while by using
their products and services. Australia Tourism and Hospitality have main fear of changing
government regulation along with price war of company (Dandage, Mantha and Rane, 2019).
Due to have Covid-19 Tourism and Hospitality industry have many losses while they do not get
enough visitor to their place and make them well-developed. Increasing company costs can also
cost for fearing their industry.
Strength and threat:
In more development they can easily make their company while developed by increasing
product line, discount promotion and better to have government relation.
Weakness and threat:
Unproductive employee could be their if they do not follow various pandemic rules in
their industry and in which Tourism sector have to be more developed while by keeping their
employee skilled along with motivation for doing work.
Opportunities:
Increasing of more Tourism sector and also changes in Tourism wants as per people
demand. Population and economic growth that might be the best opportunities for being their
sector established in which people can visit more and more (Wang, Japutra and Molinillo,2020).
Government policy have been increased in Tourism so that they can have more people at their
place furthermore make their Tourist and hotels better.
Weakness:
Employee being educated and skilled through which they can help organization and
sector for having their developed. Hotels facility must in such as ways that when people come to
their place they do not have fear about their safety and healthy in Covid-19. If they have number
of rooms less than no customer will be their, and they have also feared about huge amount of
losses.
Strength:
Good working culture can also support people and employee working in that sector.
Strategies should be in such a way that could make their industry employee loyalty towards
people working in that sector. Effective organization might be more supportive to protect them
from Covid-19 and make them eligible for helpful people. Customer should have trust in their
strategies as which have made to prevent them pandemic.

Strength and opportunities:
Increasing new facility and using advance technological as well marketing services will
have more growth (D'Ambrosio, 2020). Due to having Covid-19 increasing services level
through which much employee and customer seems to be more happy and satisfied with their
services that used for avoiding pandemic.
Weakness and opportunities:
Recruiting new employee along with providing them training and building more
renovation products and services. In Australia Tourism and Hospitality industries employee must
be educated so that they have to know about that on the basis of customer satisfying they
increased their salaries and wages in organization.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it had been concluded that Tourism and Hospitality are facing
many problems due to having pandemic and various challenges in making their customer
satisfied. Various organization have to developed with facilities of Covid-19 through which they
make their people and more customer. Domestic visit are more and from other countries like
New Zealand but in present time they also less due to just fear in mind about the virus and
tourism and Hospitality industry trying to make their place avoiding with the pandemic while by
taking safety and health security. Fares for visitors are fewer than as compare to last year and
many more people right now are visiting to their tourism places.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Australia, T., 2020. Top day trips from Melbourne-Tourism Australia.
Dandage, R.V., Mantha, S.S. and Rane, S.B., 2019. Strategy development using TOWS matrix
for international project risk management based on prioritization of risk categories.
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.
Divisekera, S. and Nguyen, V.K., 2018. Determinants of innovation in tourism evidence from
Australia. Tourism Management. 67. pp.157-167.
Dube, K., Nhamo, G. and Chikodzi, D., 2020. COVID-19 cripples global restaurant and
hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism, pp.1-4.
Green, R., 2020. Wildlife tourism. Wildlife Australia. 57(1). pp.8-13.
Gurran, N., Zhang, Y. and Shrestha, P., 2020. ‘Pop-up’tourism or ‘invasion’? Airbnb in coastal
Australia. Annals of Tourism Research. 81. p.102845.
Polyzos, S., Samitas, A. and Spyridou, A.E., 2020. Tourism demand and the COVID-19
pandemic: An LSTM approach. Tourism Recreation Research, pp.1-13.
Scherrer, P., 2020. Tourism to serve culture: the evolution of an Aboriginal tourism business
model in Australia. Tourism Review.
Wang, S., Japutra, A. and Molinillo, S., 2020. Branded premiums in tourism destination
promotion. Tourism Review.
Online
Australian Hotels Industry Sentiment Survey.2021.[Online]Available
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cut-6-000-jobs-as-virus-hits-1692493-2020-06-25}
D'Ambrosio., R. 2020. Forecasting a Drop in Tourism, Australia Amps up Marketing [Online].
Available through: <https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Forecasting-a-Drop-
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New Zealand tightens quarantine as Australia decides on travel bubble.2021.[Online]Available
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