Analyzing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on UK Tourism Industry

This essay examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK tourism industry, detailing how lockdowns and travel restrictions led to a decline in visitors and revenue. It discusses the challenges faced by various tourism-related businesses, including hotels, restaurants, and tour guides, and the difficulties in complying with new hygiene and social distancing regulations. The essay also highlights the workforce employment issues and the impact on small hotel entities. It concludes by suggesting strategies for hotels and restaurants to adapt, such as providing room service, enhancing hygiene measures, and promoting safety through advertising to rebuild customer confidence and improve the sector's turnover. Desklib provides a platform for students to access this essay and many other solved assignments.

Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic
in the UK Tourism

Table of Contents
Impact of Covid -19 Pandemic in the UK Tourism.........................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

Impact of Covid -19 Pandemic in the UK Tourism
This essay is about the Pandemic Covid-19 and how it affected the Tourism industry in
UK. As tourism industries is among the important industries for any country as it attracts various
people from abroad which generate income for the country as well as tourism industries.
Pandemic lead to the lock-down which gave negative impact on the industry. The essay consist
of the detailed information of the various impact which were the cause of the covid-19.
Coronavirus is a type of infectious virus which was 1st noticed in 2019. It was
spreading at high rate which then took a form of pandemic because of the increasing number of
infect-ant (Jiang, and et.al, 2020). As it was declared as pandemic worldwide it then caused lock-
down in almost every country which affected every business because their earning was stopped
(He, Deng, and Li, 2020). The closure of business was a disadvantage for the business owners as
they had no other way of earning money. Every country's economy was affected because of this
pandemic. The most affected sector was tourism because the citizens were not allowed to travel
into different country as well as states. UK was not any different the visitors in the UK also
decreased due to lock-down. There were various businesses which were business related to
tourism due to the sudden closure of the enterprise. There is not only one impact on the tourism
industries there are various connected issue which include the workforce too. One of them were
various small entities which were closed because they were not able to comply with the
regulations laid by the government. UK Tourism industries were not able to contribute their
regular income to the economy of the country as their earnings were reduced. Government
started to make various regulations regarding pandemic which will be applicable on the hotels as
well as various other industries. These regulations were mandatory for those industries to follow
which lead to various problems for the entities.
Pandemic has made various crucial changes in the industry as of now like hotels or
restaurant and various other tourism places. The changes are that these industries have to
increase the hygiene factor with social distancing which is difficult to execute in near future
(Baum, and Hai, 2020). These lead to issues with the sitting order in various restaurant which
will directly affect the profit margin. Hotels have to heighten their control of hygiene this will
increase their cost of maintenance. It is obvious that even if it happens same as pre-covid then
also it will be difficult for the industries to achieve the efficiency which was previously. The
pandemic also improved the hygiene viewpoint of people, and they also expect the same from

the hotel management if they are travelling. After the pandemic tourist book their hotels after
analysing their hygiene and safety measures. This has become a very important factor in their
decision making process they will only travel when they find all the necessary measures in their
hotel or travel vehicle company. The pandemic was difficult time for the small hotel entities who
didn't have enough funds to comply with the governments' guideline. Their visitor were already
less than because of pandemic people were not visiting their place. Than Small hotel entities
were closed off as they were not able to attract the customers to their hotels. As the pandemic
affected the visitors rate it also affected the workforce employment in these sectors. The turnover
rate of industry is affected it also leads to the reduction of workforce of the hotels. There are a
huge amount of workers whose income decreased because the employer were not able to pay
compensation to them. It also reduced the chances of freshers to enter into the industries just
because industries were not able to compensate their current employees. There are many freshers
in the hotels and travels industry who were eager to grab the opportunity in the sector this
situation de-motivated those fresher. There are various other services which are linked to the
tourism which were affected with the industry. Guides was also one of those workers for the
industry who faced this problem because of low visitors. They play vital role in the tourism
industry as they have knowledge of every tourist places. The turnover rate for UK tourism
industry has declined since Covid-19 because of the restriction of travels and hospitality sector.
They have lost a huge amount of visitors due to the pandemic (Kumar, and Nafi, 2020). This was
the main issue for every hotel in the UK. They were trying to come up with various strategies to
increase the occupancy of the hotels but the small hotels took a way and started to rent out their
hotels so that they can earn something. But this was not the solution to those hotels which were
bigger in the area and have various employees to work under them. Covid-19 impacts are still
very difficult to overcome for the various hotels as people are still not sure that they will not face
any problem while travelling (Toanoglou, Chemli, and Valeri, 2021).
It was analysed from above that pandemic was considered high risk for the travel
industries and for those who were supposed to travel. It was because in the starting there were
many flights which were cancelled which caused losses to the both the customers and owner.
There were also many cancellations in the hotels too which were pre booked for any occasions.
When the hotels failed in providing the services then it leads to annoyance in the customer
minds. Afterwards, when it was starting to reopen during October 2020 many visitors were

hesitating to book any venue or any travel vehicles because it was still not sure for them that it
will not eventually cost them loss. There were many guidelines which were floated by the
government for both the visitors and host which can be difficult to follow as it was very different
from both are used to. It was instructed that visitors should avoid going to new places or
socialize with new people which was not very convenient for them (Sharma, Thomas, and Paul,
2021). As this lead to low visit to restaurant or hotels or any public place. It also caused various
changes in the behaviour while travelling such as public transport were a very negative point for
any tourist as for that they to encounter crowd. It still has restrictions on travelling as some
countries are not allowing international flights to land because they are afraid that it will cause
some serious issues. It was also identifies that the guides who were in the industry also faced
various issues due to the lower amount of visitor. Their income was highly impacted due to the
restrictions on the travelling. They are the main part of tourism industry who are very important
for the visitors but now-a-days even if people visit new places they try to avoid interacting with
new people. This has developed a discouragement in them because of low income. It is also
noticed that the small entities are not able to fulfil their operational cost as they are not getting
any visitors. People are trying to find those hotels who are maintaining hygiene and following
safety measures. These small hotels are not able to follow this because they are not having any
source of income. This hotels are being ignored whenever the visitors try to find hotels for stay.
Small hotels entities staff are also not able to support them as they also want to have some source
of income for their families. This fact is causing them to lose their employees and are not able to
employ new workers.
It is summarized from this essay that the industry suffered loss which was because of the
less number of visitors. The current employees and the freshers are also facing the consequences
of this situation. It is also noticed that the restaurant, hotels, temples, and various other tourism
spots are facing issues while following the regulations regarding Covid-19. There are regulations
formed by government to ensure safety of workers and visitors.
It is recommended for hotels that they should start providing food services to the rooms
of the customers so that they are not engaging with the other people. Also, hotels should provide
safety measures training to their employees. If the hotels adapt this method then it will help then
attract new visitors which will give a positive impact on their turnover.

It is advised to the hotels and travels that they should try to advertise and promote their
entities. This can be done by making video of safety measures taken by them for their employees
as well their customer. This method will provide a peace of mind to the customers.
It is suggested to the restaurant regarding their sitting arrangement problem that they
should adapt new strategies to improve their business. One of the strategy can be that restaurant
can provide online delivery to their customers. Another one can be that if their outside or terrace
space is sufficient for sitting arrangement then it will increase their capacity. These strategies
will increase the customer base which will leave a positive impact.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Baum, T. and Hai, N.T.T., 2020. Hospitality, tourism, human rights and the impact of COVID-
19. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
He, F., Deng, Y. and Li, W., 2020. Coronavirus disease 2019: What we know?. Journal of
medical virology. 92(7). pp.719-725.
Jiang, S. and et.al., 2020. A distinct name is needed for the new coronavirus. The Lancet.
395(10228). p.949.
Kumar, S. and Nafi, S.M., 2020. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on tourism: Recovery proposal
for future tourism. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, Year XIIII Vol, 33.
Romagosa, F., 2020. The COVID-19 crisis: Opportunities for sustainable and proximity tourism.
Tourism Geographies. 22(3). pp.690-694.
Sharma, G.D., Thomas, A. and Paul, J., 2021. Reviving tourism industry post-COVID-19: A
resilience-based framework. Tourism management perspectives. 37. p.100786.
Toanoglou, M., Chemli, S. and Valeri, M., 2021. The organizational impact of COVID-19 crisis
on travel perceived risk across four continents. Journal of Organizational Change
Management.
Zhang, H. and et.al., 2021. Forecasting tourism recovery amid COVID-19. Annals of Tourism
Research. 87. p.103149.
Online References
The impact of Covid-19 on the UK tourism industry., 2022. [Online]. Available Through
<https://boutiquehotelnews.com/features/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-uk-tourism-
industry/>
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