Academic Writing Essay: COVID-19's Impact on UK Tourism Industry

This essay examines the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK's travel and tourism industry. It highlights the pre-pandemic boom in tourism, followed by a severe downturn due to global lockdowns and travel restrictions. The report discusses the financial losses incurred by hotels and heritage sites, job losses in the sector, and the overall fear of travel among the population. It also touches upon the importance of tourism for the UK economy, the decline in air passenger arrivals, and the fall in hotel occupancy rates. The essay concludes by recommending strategies for the tourism sector to cope with the pandemic, including strict adherence to safety guidelines, sanitization measures, and the use of advanced technology. The essay emphasizes the need for patience and strategic planning to navigate the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic.

The impact of
covid19 on UK
tourism

INTRODUCTION:
It can be said that the hospitality industry is one of the most loved industries by the customers as
it makes their customers to feel relaxed and also welcome them and entertain them as well while
they are staying in that particular hotel. In hospitality sector basically, people comes to enjoy and
relax from their busy and hectic schedules and have a good time at the hotels with their families
and friends (Uglis and et. al., 2022). The tourism industry was at a boom and can refer to the set
of different industries which basically helps in serving the process of tourism fully by providing
the appropriate infrastructure as well as the goods and services which helps in making this
travelling possible at different stages. This report is basically based on the the major impact of
the COVID 19 pandemic on the travel and tourism industry sector of mainly the United
Kingdom (Alshiqi, and Sahiti, 2022). Therefore it includes different kinds of aspects which got
affected and which are needed to have a look at the COVID 19 pandemic.
TASK:
Impact of COVID 19 on the travel and tourism industry:
the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic was very bad impact on the overall world
economy and most importantly on the business across the world. According to the data, it can be
said that United Kingdom is considered to have the largest travel and tourism industry world
widely. It has been going at the boost but due to the pandemic, this sector was hit badly as
everyone was at their home and the was a global lock down across the world. The revenue has
also been affected as the hotels which are located in a place where they have to pay high rents
somewhere in United Kingdom, and the rent is however paid by the manager for consecutive two
years of lock down, and no income was made in that time. In addition tot his, many heritage
places in united kingdom has also been affected as people are not coming to visit them due to the
COVID 19 pandemic. The employees had to leave their jobs as there was no income source to
them from these two sectors and in addition to this, if they work they are risking their lives just
to have a income that can run their livelihoods at this point of time. Less movement of the people
from one place to another and having fear of travelling was real (Calleja and et. al., 2022).
However, these are the areas which have the idea of running only with the engagement of the
people at their places. Otherwise there is no sense of these industries. The travel and tourism

industry has a negative impact of this pandemic and this will continue as long as the people are
having fear of travelling from one place to another and as long as this pandemic doesn't stops.
The revenue of the tourism has impacted bas and many of the small travel companies got shut
down as they weren't able to pay the rent and the bills for consecutive two years. The tourism
sector has also faced many security related issues and communication issues as well (Io, and
Peralta, 2022). It can be said that as these are the function areas which have their operating
activities running only because of the engagement of the people, the government are focusing
more on this sector and forming strict guidelines and some rules and regulations which the
hospitality as well as the travel and tourism sector has to follow wisely.
It can be said that the tourism industry is also called the world's biggest industry. In this,
people come form different countries to visit and to have the experience of their culture, taste
and preferences and many more. From the data of world tourism organisation, it is concluded
that most of the people travel in order to have leisure and to have a vacation from their already
existing schedules. it is helpful for every country as it helps in creating new jobs and also to the
economic growth of the country as well. With the introduction of tourism, people are now free to
look upon the country's popularity, their culture and their local practices as well (Yan and et. al.,
2022). In context with the country united kingdom, tourism is very important. If talk amount in
numbers, they have earned more than 67 billion euros. It helps in the economy boost of the
country. This is the main reason why countries including the united kingdom is focusing on their
tourism sector so much as it will not be good for the sector only, but instead for the whole
economy. The united kingdom almost has 237 billion British pounds only from its travel and
tourism industry into the GDP of the country. At today's time, people are enjoying their paid
leaves they get from their companies and they try to make it count with their families, and hence
they travel and have a mini vacations with them. The people who generally come to the united
kingdom for the purpose of travelling go for the most visited places by the people. However,,
there are many different beautiful places to visit in the united kingdom which includes the north-
western Europe's island nation, where one will be relaxed by seeing the iconic landmarks, and
the beautiful views with many restaurants by side as well. In addition to that, the tower of the
London, Warwick castle (Korstanje, M.E. and George, 2022). Stratford-upon-Avon Avon and
the Stonehenge are the various places tat the people can visit if they travel to the united kingdom.

The travel and tourism sector was impacted very bad and hence they ned to have a every
powerful strategic plan which can make the situation less problematic. In context with the travel
and tourism of UKL, the monthly air passenger arrivals top the country United Kingdom has
fallen from 6,804,900 in the month of February directly to 112,300 in the moth of April. The fall
is approximately about of 98.3% which is a lot for the economy failure (Sharma and et. al.,
2022). In addition to that, the greater London has saw a sudden fall in the hotel occupancy in the
year of 2020 to 2021. the accommodation and the travel agency of the united kingdom can see a
sudden fall in their overall turnover from the first lock down because of the COVID 19
pandemics and the lock down which were proposed world widely. From all this data it can be
concluded that the pandemic has a very bad impact on the industry and also on the whole
economy as well. In addition to this, they also need to have the patience, as until this COVID 19
pandemic is not over and people has not overcome of their fear of travelling from one place to
another, there will not be any kind of benefits to the hospitality as well as the travel and tourism
industry. It is however advised to the sector to have appropriate strategies and plans and work
according to them in order to them only to cope up with the pandemic situations. The main factor
that the sector has to recommend is to have a proper days of sanitization in their organisations
and also follow the social distancing in between the staff as well (Spenceley, 2022). For the
sanitization purpose, they can use the advanced technology tools in order to save time as well.
And they can make their customers understand that they are following all the government
guidelines about the COVID 19 pandemic and also taking effective safety and hygiene measures
as well.

CONCLUSION:
From this respective report, it has been concluded that the travel and tourism plays a very
important role in the boosting economy of the country. However, the impact of the COVID19
has also been very huge on the travel and tourism sector mainly. This is because this sector can
basically run their business only with the engagement of people from various parts of the world.
But because of the pandemic, there were lock down in the whole country for the two consecutive
years which has decreased the movement of the people from one place to another and also it has
made a fear in their heads as well. Not only the travel and tourism sector but the hospitality
sector as well. However the tourism sector has to take upon some suitable strategies and follow
the guidelines which are being implemented by the united kingdom government in order to
maintain health and safety among their staffs as well as the customers. In addition tot his, they
also have to do a proper sanitization in their organisations and as to cope up in this difficult times
as well.

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