A Report on the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on UK Tourism

This report evaluates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK tourism industry, detailing the significant decline in tourist visitors, economic losses, and challenges faced by travel agencies and accommodations. The implementation of travel bans, social distancing norms, and vaccination re...Read More

Impact of Covid 19
pandemic on tourism
of UK

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Evaluate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK tourism industry ................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES:...............................................................................................................................8
Books and Journals.................................................................................................................8
Online.....................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The Coronavirus (Covid-19) took the world by storm. As per its name, the virus first
entered in 2019, and we are currently still living through it in 2022 and counting. Although the
exact source of the virus is up for debate, it is evident that it soon became a pandemic affecting
all countries and people of all ages. The main symptoms of this virus are continuous cough and
fever. Also, some patients might require medical attention. It directly affects the lungs and
creates some respiratory diseases like pneumonia etc (Rodríguez-Antón, and Alonso-Almeida,
2020). Due to this virus, the government has imposed certain restrictions on travelling. The
government enforced a travel ban on all the passengers and created various social distancing
norms within the country. In this report, there will be a discussion about the impact of the Covid
19 pandemic on the UK tourism industry.
MAIN BODY
Evaluate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK tourism industry
Coronavirus was first detected in China, and by April 2020, 3,130,800 were infected with
the virus worldwide. In the UK, cases primarily began to rise in January 2020. The prime
minister of the UK, although declared it as a threat, but many individuals of the country believed
that it would soon pass away. However, as March struck, the effects of the virus started to
become more severe as people were being hospitalized within the country. At the end of March
2020, the UK Government imposed a lockdown in which people could not leave their house
except for food and essential visits. Schools were also closed, and also the country borders were
closed, which inevitably meant no travel. People became very conscious about their health and
safety, and they started to take necessary precautions, which were mandatory. Essentially due to
this issue, the tourism industry faced a significant decline in tourist visitors into the UK. Covid
19 has made the situation worse, and the Covid-19 pandemic on the UK tourism industry
becomes really uncontrollable in the country. Due to this, the UK government has lost 37 billion
from lack of tourism in both domestic and international travel markets.
The travel industry of the country has faced a massive decline due to this virus situation.
Government of the UK charged penalties that prohibited the rules and regulations which were
formulated during the pandemic. Travel agencies and accommodations suffered a lot because
people were not moving from their homes. This pandemic has affected travelling, so that the

tourism industry will face the consequences for the upcoming future years. After, the pandemic,
travelling became more complicated, and several travellers did not enjoy travelling due to
various norms like social distancing, etc. This factor has led to a decline in tourists visiting the
UK. Tourists would also have had to be double vaccinated, and this poses as another obstacle for
tourists to travel into the UK despite any other country (Butler and Barrientos, 2020S).
Similarly, the individuals had to take a PCR or lateral flow test and after the completion of these
norms. The traveller gets the permission to enter in the country. These all reports act as an extra
expense for that traveller (Wassler, and Fan, 2021). Tourism is also impacted by Covid-19
because potential tourists must wear the PPE kits for travelling as they do not want to catch the
virus and put themselves and other vulnerable people in danger. For Example, if individuals wish
to visit a city like London, they must follow all these restrictions. These restrictions might impact
the behaviour of sure travellers.
Tourism in the UK has affected the nightlife too. Many restaurants and nightclubs are
closed early due to the government restrictions. The tourists visit cities in the UK like London
and Manchester for the night and social life (Kour, Jasrotia, and Gupta, 2020) ). One of the
significant aspects of Covid-19 was the introduction of social distancing in many group
activities. It is virtually impossible Hence, many of these places were closed for long periods as
they could not operate. This had long-term impacts on some businesses as they eventually
became insolvent due to the persistent negative inflows. Group settings include concerts, were
not allowed to commence. It meant that people could not enjoy their time with their friends in the
presence of famous pop stars.
In this aspect, the UK lost out on many tourism opportunities. Nightclubs were closed during the
lock down period. It impacts the tourists because most of them visit London to witness the
nightlife. By March 2020, 65% of tourism industries had reported difficulty in paying their
invoices (Reichenberger, and Raymond, 2021). Covid-19 affects the per capita income of the
people living in the UK, which results in the downfall of the economy. As tourism in the UK
decreased like many other countries, a significant department hit hard was the hotel industry. The
number of rooms occupied had a steep decline, because people were not allowed to leave their
homes and soon after that person still scared to go on holidays to other countries including the
UK. Unoccupied rooms resulted in decreasing their sales which would eventually damage profits
too.

In some cases, some hotels had to fully close their operation as they were not generating any
revenues. However, some hotels soon became isolation hubs for tourists that flew from red list
countries because the government announced 14 days isolation period. People felt mental stress
and depression during their home isolation period as they were not allowed to move out. The
government was planning various methods to control the virus, including social distancing.
Tourism and travel industry were battling with problematic situations during the
pandemic. In this scenario, the only positive factor was that hotels could serve covid positive
patients, but it includes risk for employees working in that hotel. Similarly, unemployment had
significantly increased due to the pandemic. 25 to 34-years-old working full time in the tourism
industry were hit very hard. This is due to the whole sector collapsing overnight without
warning. All the flights were restricted from different parts of the world to minimize the risk
factor of covid-19. Many people were suffering because their source of income was based on the
tourism. People were struggling for their survival as unemployment affected their life very
severely due to the pandemic. Although this is true, people partially began to go on mini-breaks
within the UK when the restrictions were lifted. For example, families in the UK would visit
other parts of the UK on an extended weekend to 'get away from home' and somewhat
experience the holiday that they could have had abroad. As a result, tourism within the UK grew
as people tried to find their pockets of normality' by escaping such escapes. People would often
even spend more on these holidays as it was their first 'getaway' in a long time, even though one
of the main things that they had to do was to be cautious (Schuchat, Covid, and Team, 2020).
The 'at at home' holidays would compromise of visiting a city, beach or a country area and this
would have enabled British people to at least reminisce to feel what it is like to be on holiday.
Ultimately, it is not a simple process to make potential tourists confident in visiting the UK.
One could recommend putting schemes in encourage tourists to visit again and stay in hotels as
they did before Covid-19. There could be a program in which the hygiene and sanitation
measures are fully explained to the public, so they feel safe and understand that extra steps are
taken for the safety of everyone (Cullen, Gulati, and Kelly, 2020). Another recommendation is
that the UK could develop a scheme that gives locals the feeling of being abroad by changing up
the design of the places or the cuisine that they offer to attract more people to take these
opportunities. Some people may be worried about being safe and having fun on a mini holiday. It
could be advised that double vaccinated guests can visit most public places, hotels, and

restaurants. This may also encourage the unvaccinated people to get vaccinated. Hence, further
adding to the answer above, tourism within the UK has been affected significantly due to the
Coronavirus. Still, the economy is bouncing back, and restrictions are easing to allow tourists
back.

CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that, coronavirus disease was an infection
caused by a harmful virus that is very dangerous. Initially, it may affect people with mild
symptoms, but it may cause breathing problems and throat infections, on the last note. It involves
the country's GDP on a higher level and disturbs the economy, which is a negative point. This
report included the impact of the covid 19 pandemic on the tourism industry of the UK. It results
in unemployment and decreased growth and development of the tourism industry. The
government took the necessary steps to minimize covid 19.

REFERENCES:
Books and Journals
Butler, M.J. and Barrientos, R.M., 2020. The impact of nutrition on COVID-19 susceptibility
and long-term consequences. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 87, pp.53-54
Cullen, W., Gulati, G. and Kelly, B.D., 2020. Mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic. QJM:
An International Journal of Medicine, 113(5), pp.311-312.
Schuchat, A., Covid, C.D.C. and Team, R., 2020. Public health response to the initiation and
spread of pandemic COVID-19 in the United States, February 24–April 21,
2020. Morbidity and mortality weekly Report, 69(18), p.551.
Reichenberger, I. and Raymond, E.M., 2021. Students’ perceptions of tertiary tourism education
and careers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Teaching in Travel &
Tourism, 21(4), pp.380-402.
Kour, P., Jasrotia, A. and Gupta, S., 2020. COVID-19: a pandemic to tourism guest-host
relationship in India. International journal of tourism cities.
Wassler, P. and Fan, D.X., 2021. A tale of four futures: Tourism academia and COVID-
19. Tourism management perspectives, 38, p.100818.
Rodríguez-Antón, J.M. and Alonso-Almeida, M.D.M., 2020. COVID-19 impacts and recovery
strategies: The case of the hospitality industry in Spain. Sustainability, 12(20), p.8599.
Online
Gossling et al, 2020. Pandemic, tourism, and global change. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708>