Academic Skills Essay: COVID-19's Influence on Hospitality & Tourism

This essay provides a comprehensive evaluation of the hospitality, leisure, and travel industries in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It begins by outlining the initial impact of the virus, including travel restrictions, social distancing measures, and the resulting economic downturn. The essay then explores the challenges faced by hotels, leisure businesses, and travel companies, such as reduced customer numbers, the neglect of human rights, and the collapse of various travel industries. Furthermore, it discusses the strategies employed to overcome these challenges, including discounts, new safety protocols, and government support. The essay also delves into the long-term consequences of the pandemic, including changes in consumer behavior, job losses, and the need for international order restoration. The conclusion highlights the industries' resilience, the importance of adapting to new regulations, and the need for future research to address these challenges.

MGBBT0ASB: Academic Skills for Business and Management
September 2021-2022
ID: 100044070
Group: A1
Name of the Lecturer: Faria Tofail
Campus Location: Stratford
Date of submission: 29/10/2021

For your Essay, please choose one topic from the following:
(Select as appropriate and delete the rest)
Adapting to new technology including Ecommerce and Social Media platforms.
Or,
Challenges of Hospitality, Leisure and Travel industry during Covid-19 pandemic.
Introduction: I will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the hospitality,
leisure, and travel industries in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of
people across East Asia, Europe, and North America were exposed to COVID-19
in a matter of weeks, putting their health and lives at peril. This is despite the fact
that the poor and underprivileged in these regions have been treated unfairly and
disproportionately. (Goger and Hadden Loh, 2020). Wuhan's government said on
December 8th, 2019, that coronavirus sickness 2019 has been detected in hundreds
of new viral cases (COVID-19). As a result of the global transmission of COVID-
19, a new strain of SARS (SARS-CoV-2), a worldwide pandemic has formed. Co-
infection with infected individuals promotes COVID-19, a highly contagious
respiratory ailment. Fever, coughing, and breathing are all symptoms. Wuhan's
government said on December 8th, 2019, that coronavirus sickness 2019 has been
detected in hundreds of new viral cases (COVID-19). As a result of the global
transmission of COVID-19, a new strain of SARS (SARS-CoV-2), a worldwide
pandemic has formed. Co-infection with infected individuals promotes COVID-19,
a highly contagious respiratory ailment. Fever, coughing, and breathing are all
symptoms.1
First we discuss, what issue is raised in Hospitality business during Covid-19
pandemic and how companies can solve this issue. In Hospitality business the main
issue which was raised the travel restrictions, new law for social-distance and rapid
changed in the health situation. Many countries' hospitality and tourism industries
have been mostly shut down, and international travel as well as domestic travel
1 (Hospitality, tourism, human rights and the impact of COVID-19 | Emerald Insight, 2021)

inside certain countries has all but disappeared. One of the most important causes
of the pandemic's rapid and widespread spread was air and marine travel (Chinazzi
et al., 2020) Except for the two World Wars of the twentieth century, travel and the
usage of hospitality and tourism services have both declined dramatically. In this
discussion, we'll look at how the COVID-19 has affected our rights to engage in
the hotel and tourist industries and what it means for these sectors going forward.
In this pandemic situation the hotel didn’t find enough customers because
Government restricted many things to control this situation.2 New law for social
distancing play a major role on this. After making this law people can’t go outside
which caused the hotel businessman a huge loss on their business. On that time,
they faced many challenges because no cure was not found at the early stage of this
pandemic and the situation was getting worst day by day. (Chinazzi et al., 2020)
Travel restriction also played a major role because all roads are block in this
situation and the police didn’t give any person the chance to go outside. If we
talked about how this issue was solved during the pandemic. So, first of all in the
early stage the travel restriction problem couldn’t be solved because the
Government directly order not to go outside. But after a couple of months when the
situation was getting little bit better, the hotel company followed the rules and
regulation which is provided to them by the Government. In this pandemic time,
hotels gave discount on their room and also gave various types of facilities which
can attract the people to come because the hotel business man also knows that
Peoples are also bored to stay home for a huge time. (Walton, 2020). They used
the situation to rethink how they can grow their business again. However, during
pandemic time is too much tough for the hospitality business to stable their
business. It took a lot of time to stable their business.3
Another issue which is raised in hospitality and tourist business is that the right of
the people is neglected during the pandemic time. In Europe and the United States,
according to some estimates, up to 75 percent of small hospitality businesses might
be forced to close as a consequence of the epidemic (Goger and Hadden Loh,
2020). Could this advice for more price regulation of tourism undercut any sense
of an all-inclusive right to travel as a result of fewer and more expensive suppliers
as a result of this recommendation? Since long-term social distance must be
maintained whether traveling by airline, cruise ship, or restaurant, this is already
anticipated in the concept and is expected to substantially increase both the cost of
operation and the cost of the final product to consumers. As a result, substantial
2 (Impact of Covid-19 on the Hospitality, Travel, and Leisure Sector, 2021)
3 Withum. 2021. COVID-19 Impact on the Hospitality Industry.

segments of the population will continue to be excluded from the hospitality,
travel, and tourism businesses (Walton, 2020). These are only a handful of the
elements that have an influence on people's ability to roam freely across the world.4
Before going on vacation or becoming a tourist, it is necessary to resolve a number
of difficulties. As a consequence of the epidemic and its aftermath, which continue
to be a source of worry in many ways, international order must be restored.
(Human Rights Council, 2020). Because hospitality and tourism studies is a
splintered field with little structure to begin with, it's more reasonable to claim that
human rights are routinely neglected in the field. A window of opportunity has
opened up as a result of the present financial crisis to rectify this philosophical and
broader socio-political as well as environmental negligence. These considerations
will assist us in framing hospitality and tourist consumption as a right, a luxury, or
a source of hedonistic enjoyment. Following COVID-19, researchers will be
required to think critically about these sorts of challenges. Other, more significant
concerns affecting hospitality and tourism are likely to be confused with these
issues, as is the case with many others. (Baum and Nguyen, 2019).5
Leisure business included Sports, entertainment, race etc. Leisure business and
Travel Industry are same type because in travel industry we can see that this
industry also included activities to spend leisure time. Now we discussed what
issue is raided in Leisure and Travel Industry during covid-19 period. In Travel
industry we observed that the main issue is because of lockdown and social-
distancing all stadiums, cinema halls, tourist spots was closed. Furthermore, we
also observed that all air tickets, bus tickets and train tickets are also closed which
caused a huge damage to the Travel industries.6 (Walton, 2020) During this
pandemic, many travel industries are collapsed. Many employees are became
jobless. Many companies reaction are not good on this situation, they reacted
negatively. As a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, people and property have been
affected all around the globe. There has been an exceptional rise in the number of
jobless persons since the COVID-19 virus wreaked havoc on the travel and
industry. This includes hotel and restaurant workers, street food caterers and pubs.
It doesn't take long after a cancellation is announced for the travel and tourism and
hotel sectors to take a severe financial hit. This is especially true for sporting
events and conferences. Unemployed people sometimes resort to unhealthy coping
4 (Hospitality, tourism, human rights and the impact of COVID-19 | Emerald Insight, 2021)
5 (COVID-19 Impact on Leisure and Travel Industry: Psychological, Safety and Governance Imperatives | Emerald
Insight, 2021)
6 (Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of COVID-19, 2021)

techniques such as suicide, excessive drinking, and drug use in order to get by.
Unemployed people face a wide range of psychological problems, such as
depression, anxiety, hopelessness, a loss of confidence, and a general disinterest in
life. As a result of COVID-19, governments and people throughout the globe have
seen historically significant shifts in political, economic, and cultural behavior.
Travel rights have been severely restricted for those in the global north, making the
consumer impact most evident for them. (Millman, 2020). Tourist workers have an
impact on people in the Global South as well as the Global North. Indeed, the
impact on the latter's labor force may be much more severe if there is no social
assistance system like in more rich countries (Baum and Nguyen, 2019). It's likely
that initiatives in this direction started before the outbreak (for example, President
Trump's 'well' along the Mexican border) but official responses to COVID-19 have
put our expectations of free cross-border migration to the test. The mass of visitors,
particularly leisure travelers, are unable to cross national borders because of this.
For certain industries and religious groups, this meant completely reopening the
borders to people who weren't citizens or inhabitants of the country. Vietnam has
ended visa on arrival programs, while Singapore has made it impossible to transit
through the country through airports. States and transit providers have reduced or
eliminated travel's negative impact. The Scottish government, for example, has
forbidden Island ferry service use by anybody other than citizens and essential
staff. Due to a shrinking market and legislative limits on non-essential travel,
several airlines have reduced domestic and worldwide service to the bare
minimum.7 Due to these financial restraints, transportation companies, notably
airlines, may find themselves unable to continue providing services or nationalize
airline companies in order to secure their long-term viability and survival.
(Millman, 2020).
Conclusion: In the end, I can only say that during this pandemic the hospitality
and Travel industry are affected and many of the industries reaction aren’t positive
during this situation. Many companies shut down their business because of the
indefinite loss. But the companies slowly regained their existence by following the
rules which government is provided and open their business again.
7 (How the Coronavirus Pandemic Has Impacted the Travel Industry, 2021)

Bibliography:
1. A.J Singh, B., 2021. Impact of COVID-19 on the Hospitality Industry and
Implication for Operations and Asset Management. [Online] Bu.edu. Available at:
https://www.bu.edu/bhr/2021/05/31/impact-of-covid-19-on-the-hospitality-
industry-and-implication-for-operations-and-asset-management/
[Accessed 27 October 2021].
2. Emerald.com. 2021. COVID-19 Impact on Leisure and Travel Industry:
Psychological, Safety and Governance Imperatives | Emerald Insight. [Online]
Available at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-80071-
334-520211012/full/html
[Accessed 27 October 2021].
3. Withum. 2021. COVID-19 Impact on the Hospitality Industry. [Online]
Available at: https://www.withum.com/resources/covid-19-coronavirus-impact-on-
the-hospitality-industry/
[Accessed 27 October 2021].
4. Emerald.com. 2021. Hospitality, tourism, human rights and the impact of
COVID-19 | Emerald Insight. [Online] Available at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2020-0242/full/
html
[Accessed 25 October 2021].
5. Search Engine Journal. 2021. How the Coronavirus Pandemic Has Impacted the
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https://www.searchenginejournal.com/coronavirus-pandemic-impact-travel-
industry/358128/
[Accessed 27 October 2021].
6. Programming Insider. 2021. Impact of Covid-19 on the Hospitality, Travel, and
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covid-19-on-the-hospitality-travel-and-leisure-sector/
[Accessed 25 October 2021].
7. Taylor & Francis. 2021. Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid
assessment of COVID-19. [Online] Available at:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708>
[Accessed 27 October 2021].
Primary Sources:
1. Human Rights Counsel.
2. Hospitality, tourism, human rights and the impact of COVID-19.
3. The Hospitality industry in the face of the COVID-19.
4. COVID-19 Impact on Leisure and Travel Industry: Psychological, Safety and
Governance Imperatives
Secondary Sources:
1. Impact of Covid-19 on the Hospitality, Travel, and Leisure Sector.
2. Impact of COVID-19 on the Hospitality Industry and Implication.
3. Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of COVID-19.