COVID-19 Public Emergency: Impact on Canadian Hospitality Sector

This research report examines the impact of the COVID-19 public emergency on the Canadian hospitality and tourism sectors, focusing on the experiences of businesses like Desi Bites. The report details the effects of lockdowns, travel restrictions, and public health measures on business operations, including cancellations, safety protocols, and financial implications. It analyzes the Canadian government's response, including travel bans and economic support, and evaluates the industry's response to the crisis. The report highlights the challenges faced by businesses in maintaining operations, ensuring customer and employee safety, and adapting to changing circumstances. It concludes with an assessment of the long-term effects of the pandemic and potential recovery strategies, emphasizing the importance of hygiene standards and government support for the industry's future.

Running head: RESEARCH REPORT ON CORONAVIRUS
RESEARCH REPORT ON CORONAVIRUS
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
COVID-19 is identified as a recently discovered disease, which is an outcome of the
spread of the coronavirus (Who.int 2020). The virus is believed to have its origin in the wet
markets of the Wuhan district in China. The disease has spread throughout the world in
countries throughout all the continents. In this regard, it may be mentioned that Canada like
any other country having reported cases of the coronavirus infection has suffered a negative
impact in terms of the business operations in several industries. The report will further
evaluate the impact of the public emergency of the coronavirus on the local and national
hospitality sector of Canada, as well as the international tourism industry. The public
emergency has had an impact on the operations at the organization I am currently placed in,
namely Desi Bites. Desi Bites is one of the widely recognized restaurants in the Surrey region
of Canada, specializing in Indian flavored foods. The various services offered by the
restaurant include catering for large and small events like weddings, holiday parties,
graduations, corporate parties, executive events and the like (Desibites.ca 2020). In the event
of the public emergency, the restaurant has currently stopped its operations in response to the
recent deaths of three patients suffering from the coronavirus disease. Individuals living in
the area have been advised to restrict themselves from going out of their homes so as to
control the further spreading of the disease. The impact of this event on Desi Bites and the
hospitality industry on a local and national front will be discussed in the following sections.
Placement Analysis
Owing to the worldwide spread of the pandemic of the coronavirus disease, the
governments from all over the world have taken actions in order to protect the citizens and
prevent the disease from spreading any further (Mayberry, Varshalomidze and Siddiqui
2020). The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau initially restricted travelling in and from

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the country and urged the people to remain at their homes in quarantine. The province of
British Columbia has been recognized as one of the most worst affected areas with the
contamination of the coronavirus (Scmp.com 2020). For this purpose, the business
organizations were advised to stop their operations and maintain a complete lockdown
(Nationalobserver.com 2020). This measure was taken in order to ensure the safety and
protection of all the employees, managers as well as the customers who engaged in business
transactions with these organizations.
Following the order of the Canadian government, Desi Bites also followed the
procedure of the lockdown by stopping its business operations temporarily until the public
emergency is controlled. Before the coronavirus pandemic situation was declared as a public
emergency in Canada, the supervisors and managers of the restaurant made the employees
aware of the outbreak of the disease and advised any individual suffering from any
respiratory problems to stay at home until they recovered completely. The absence of a few
employees suffering from flu directly resulted in an increase of responsibilities on the other
members. However, with the declaration of the public emergency, all the employees and staff
of the restaurant were informed about the lockdown situation directly in person on the last
working day as well as through an official statement sent to each of the employees via email.
Before the declaration of a complete lockdown, the restaurant had taken special
measures to ensure the safety and protection of the employees as well as the customers.
Bottles of sanitizers were provided on each table in the restaurant for the usage of the
customers. For takeaways, the restaurant provided sachets of sanitizers and adequate tissue
papers. The employees were also advised to wash their hands after each interaction with the
customers. However, after the declaration of the public emergency, several catering services
had to be cancelled by the restaurant. The customers were explained the reasons for
cancellation in detail and a certain percentage from the advance payments were reimbursed

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via bank transfer and other online banking methods that were convenient to the customers.
The situation was handled in a professional and responsible manner, keeping into
consideration the health and safety of the staff and employees.
As a supervisor, the priorities that would have been addressed by me during such a
public emergency would have been the following:
 Protection of the health and safety of the employees and other members of the
restaurant
 Provision of adequate safety measures for the customers so as to maintain positive
customer relations
 Maintenance of government protocols and policies during the emergency period
After the emergency period is over, the restaurant can resume its usual business
operations and regain its sales by ensuring the maintenance of hygiene standards and
following government protocols in order to ensure the safety and protection of the employees
and customers.
Industry Analysis
The public emergency of the coronavirus has affected several business organizations
especially the ones operating in the service-oriented industries like hospitality and tourism. In
order to prevent the further spread of the pandemic, the government of Canada has taken
several steps both on a local and national level.
On a national level the prime minister of the country, Justin Trudeau has directed the
cancellation of flight transportation services to and from several countries gravely affected by
the disease (Cecco 2020). Individuals using flight services have been subjected to medical
testing and quarantine. Travel bans have also been imposed so as to prevent further
contamination through contact (Economictimes.indiatimes.com 2020).

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The local and international tourism and hospitality industry have suffered a severe
reduction in business due to imposition of lockdowns in several regions of the country as well
as countries all over the world. The losses incurred by the industry due to cancellation of
services by the customers can be managed with assistance from the government in terms of
reduction in taxes. Furthermore, investment made by the government to restore regular
business operations may also aid the industry to grow after the state of public emergency is
declared to be over.
Conclusion
From the report on the impact of the public emergency of the coronavirus outbreak on
the tourism and hospitality industry it can be deduced that negative impact business
operations could be observed on a local, national and international level. However, Desi Bites
ensured the health and safety of the employees and customers by following the proper
protocols of the emergency as mandated by the Canadian government. The employees at the
restaurant were made aware of the situation of the pandemic and were advised to improve the
standards of hygiene and safety in order to prevent ourselves from getting affected.

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References
Cecco, L., 2020. 'Stay Home': Justin Trudeau Closes Canada's Borders Over Coronavirus.
[online] the Guardian. Available at:
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/justin-trudeau-closes-canada-borders-
coronavirus> [Accessed 26 March 2020].
Desibites.ca, 2020. Indian Restaurants In Surrey, Catering Services In Surrey, Chole Bhature
In Surrey, Fresh Juice In Surrey, Tiffin Services In Surrey, Chana Bhatura In Surrey, Chana
Bhatura Near Me. [online] Desibites.ca. Available at: <http://www.desibites.ca/index.html>
[Accessed 26 March 2020].
Economictimes.indiatimes.com, 2020. Canada Reports First Coronavirus Death As Number
Of Infected Climbs. [online] The Economic Times. Available at:
<https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/canada-reports-first-
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March 2020].
Mayberry, K., Varshalomidze, T. and Siddiqui, U., 2020. Spain Reports 655 Deaths In A
Day: Coronavirus Updates. [online] Aljazeera.com. Available at:
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/coronavirus-threat-humanity-live-updates-
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Nationalobserver.com, 2020. Trudeau Issues Stark Warning To Canadians: Stay Home, Now.
[online] National Observer. Available at:
<https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/03/23/news/trudeau-issues-stark-warning-
canadians-stay-home-now> [Accessed 26 March 2020].

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Scmp.com, 2020. British Columbia Is Testing For Covid-19 Faster Than South Korea Did.
[online] South China Morning Post. Available at:
<https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3077016/coronavirus-
british-columbia-testing-covid-19> [Accessed 26 March 2020].
Who.int, 2020. Coronavirus. [online] Who.int. Available at: <https://www.who.int/health-
topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1> [Accessed 26 March 2020].