UK Tourism Industry: Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 and Recovery

This essay examines the profound impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the UK tourism sector, detailing its effects on various industries such as travel, hospitality, and transportation. It highlights the initial economic downturn caused by lockdowns and travel restrictions, including decreased GDP and increased unemployment. The report also discusses the importance of the tourism sector to the UK economy, emphasizing its contribution to employment, infrastructure development, and the promotion of local artisans. Furthermore, it explores the recovery measures proposed by the government and tourism industries, such as enhanced safety protocols, the use of technology, and coordinated international efforts, to revitalize the sector and regain traveler confidence. The essay concludes by underscoring the need for continued awareness and adaptive strategies to ensure the sustainable recovery of the UK tourism industry.

ACADEMIC WRITING FOR
BUSINESS AND
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
ESSAY.............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
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INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus is a most impactful and dangerous disease of all the times. The virus has
cause loss of life and economy both. So, it becomes important to keep the saving of life of the
individual at utmost priority. The disease can be spread through person to person or through
particles present in the air.
Covid-19 had caused a huge loss to the tourism industry. The tourism sector refers to a
sector inclusive of industries such as travel companies, hospitality, tourist industries,
transportation and many more, and refers to a situation where individual travel to other country
or state for leisure and for relaxation.
This report contains wide description of the concept, background, definition of the
coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, it includes importance of tourism sector, the way Covid-19
has impacted on tourism industry of United Kingdom. Ways and measure that can be used to
promote the growth of the tourism industry.
MAIN BODY
ESSAY
Concept of coronavirus and the way it has triggered the UK economy
Coronavirus is a type of disease is causing respiratory illness. The person suffering from
this disease will suffer mild to moderate fever. This disease was found December 2019(Suhel
and Bashir, 2018). the very first case was found in China. And afterwards the virus spread all
over the world. The virus has a great impact on the senior citizens and the person that are
suffering from the severe diseases such as diabetics, cancer, lung infection and many other
diseases.
It has caused the death of millions of people and several after impact of Covid 19. Covid
19 is a disease that spreads through person and person. it was spreading very fast so various
country has to impose lock-down in their states to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The lock-
down has lead to many problems that are: it has unemployed many persons, it has dropped the
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GDP rate, it has impacted many sectors. To secure the world from this disease the government of
all the country has joins their hands and launched the vaccine for the coronavirus.
The government of every country has made it compulsory for the people to get
vaccinated. Along with this the government has issued guideline as well, the guideline contains
the details that: mask is compulsory, gap of 2ft (0.61 m) between two individual, use sanitizer.
The vaccination norms contains that: to move from one country to other it is compulsory for
every individual to carry their vaccination certificate(THE IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM TO
THE UK ECONOMY., 2021). The guidelines issued by the government includes self isolation if
an individual comes in contact with the person infected with this disease.
Due to the introduction of this virus the country had to undergone several lock down
which includes ban on the airline. That has shaken the tourism industry in a way that it has
resulted in low GDP rate and low employment rate. Before coronavirus the major earnings of
UK economy were from the tourism sector. It was helping in creation of infrastructure
development. Post coronavirus it has generated 10% of globe trade(Impacts on the UK tourism
industry from COVID-19., 2020). There are various industries that are depended on the tourism
sector for their livelihood. It has forced the country to close the museums and it has affected the
museums in such a way that it some museum will never reopen.
Importance of the tourism sector in UK
The tourism industry of UK is the one of the largest profit generating industry. The
government of India always focuses on promoting the tourism sector of the UK. As post Covid
the tourism sector of the UK has generated upto 80% of the UK's visitors economy(Cró, and
Martins, 2020). As UK tourism industry involves various sectors that are passenger transport,
travel agencies, food and beverages centres, accommodations, hotels etc. the tourism sector has a
great contribution towards the GDP of the country.
The tourism sector helps in increasing the employment rate of the UK. As it attracts the
people from all over the world, so various hotels, accommodation centres and for providing
many other activities these places will require staff and that will ultimately result in employing
staff. It helps in increasing the sell of the local artisans as well. The demand of the local product
increases with the increase in the tourist as every person that comes to visit, take something as
the memory of that place. The tourism sector of the country helps in the greater sustainability, as
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UK is itself a developed country but to attract the tourist it has to upkeep and maintain the
historical heritages of the country. To maintain the historical heritages of the country the
government use the fund in an effective way. Increase in the skills and quality of the products to
create a globe value of the products. The development of the infrastructure of the country has
increased due to the tourism sector(Dinarto, Wanto A. and Sebastian, 2020). Every country
wants to attract as many as tourist to the country for increasing the economy. This leads in
creating more facilities and an environment which is safe and secure. This is done by making
new and developed roads and parks, better transport system and developed schools and colleges.
The tourism industries is a national asset to the UK economy as it helps in increasing the
value of the infrastructure from tea shops to big shopping malls it has helped in the development
of every part of the country.
Impact of coronavirus on tourism industry and its responses
The pandemic has affected the world at large, it has affected many sectors, individuals
and the economy of each country. Although many sectors have been affected by the coronavirus
but it has the worst impact on the tourism sector. Due to the coronavirus, for maintaining the
safety of the public all the airlines were grounded and business were closed.
It has a great impact on the UK economy as it has observed a great down fall on the UK
economy. Tourism industry has been considered to be the world's main sector(Khurramov,
2020). The occupancy of the hotels, restaurants and many other accommodation facilities had
incurred a huge loss due to the outbreak of this virus. Moreover, the people that are engaged in
this business have lost their jobs, it has made it difficult for them to earn their livelihood. Many
activities have been put to hold due to the continuous spread of the coronavirus. That has lead to
fall in the come generated by the traditional festivals, heritages practices, sell of the products in
the local market.
To overcome this situation and restart business to achieve a certain level of growth in
economy the government has proposed some measures. The government and tourism industries
has joined their hands together and launched a tourism recovery plan. Before reopening every
organization has to ensure that the place has been sanitized properly. They are ensuring to
provide a safe and secure environment. As it is spreading from person to person, it has put a lot
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of pressure on them to ensure that they are following social distancing norms. For this they have
decided to reopen with 50% of the occupancy.
For an immediate and coordinated response to reduce the transmission of the virus proper
cleaning of the work station is must. For successfully opening of the various places, everyone
should complete their quarantine period of 14 days after travelling to other country. This will
help tourism industry to spread the virus and in providing secure and safe environment for its
tourist. That has encouraged tourist to visit UK. By lifting travel restrictions and providing safe
travelling to the people it can regain the confidence. For this they can provide with the online
tour of the country and major attraction points of the country to keep visitors motivated for
travelling(Katunian, 2019.). By maintaining the high quality of safety, cleaning, social
distancing, and providing training to the staff for following the guidelines. For supporting the
travel, it is advised that tourist should be provided with the discount and voucher facilities.
CONCLUSION
The report has concluded that the potential impact of the coronavirus has backward and
forward linkage on the tourism sector. The coronavirus has affected the lifestyle of many
individuals and organization. It has impacted the many sectors but tourism sector is the which is
affected by it the most.
For increasing the business of tourism industry, one country can coordinate with other
country to monitor the impact of the pandemic on tourism so that they can respond accordingly.
The awareness of this virus among the citizens need to be increased so that they can take safety
measures. The coordination among the different countries will helps to identify the sectors that
will require more assistance and to develop a roadmap that will guide in recovering fast.
Moreover, country can use screening protocols to check the visitors at the ports. To limit the
spread of the virus it will be more suitable to gradually use technologies for example: payment
should be made through online modes. The above recovery measure can be used to promote the
tourism industries.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Khurramov, O.K. 2020. The role of the tourism sector in the digitalization of the service
economy. Economics and Innovative Technologies. 2020(1). p.6.
Dinarto, D. Wanto A. and Sebastian, L.C. 2020. COVID-19: Impact on Bintan’s tourism sector.
Cró, S. and Martins A.M., 2020. Foreign Direct Investment in the tourism sector: The case of
France. Tourism Management Perspectives. 33. p.100614.
Katunian, A. 2019. Sustainability as a new approach for the human resource development in
tourism sector. Viešoji politika ir administravimas. 18(4). pp.405-417.
Suhel, S. and Bashir, A. 2018. The role of tourism toward economic growth in the local
economy. Economic Journal of Emerging Markets. 10(1). pp.32-39.
Online reference
THE IMPORTANCE OF TOURISM TO THE UK ECONOMY., 2021.[online]. Available
through: <https://plmr.co.uk/2021/05/the-importance-of-tourism-to-the-uk-economy/>
Impacts on the UK tourism industry from COVID-19., 2020.[online]. Available
through<https://committees.parliament.uk/work/250/impact-of-covid19-on-dcms-sectors/news/
114657/impacts-on-the-uk-tourism-industry-from-covid19-coronavirus-examined/>
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