GUAZON, Marian Love B.

HTM102

COVID-19 AND ITS EFFECTS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY

COVID-19, the disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus called severe

acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has had a greater impact
on tourism and travel behaviour than any disease outbreak in living memory.

Currently, what is certain is that, COVID-19 – a respiratory disease caused

by the novel coronavirus or SARS-COV2 which outbreak started in China’s
Wuhan City in Hubei province in the last quarter of 2019 has profoundly shaken
the basic fundamentals in our society. What started as health crisis has morphed
into a full-blown economic crisis which has affected the world much more than the
2008 financial crisis. It has destroyed consumption activities and paralyzes the
economy and tourism industry. The economy which is mostly dominated by
consumerism is grounding effectively to a halt causing grave repercussions
especially for retailers, services and financial institutions. Such development has
made the politicians and policymakers scrambling to offset and mitigate the
damages in their respective countries.

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 has brought the world to a standstill,

and tourism has been the worst affected of all major economic sectors.
Considerable challenges remain ahead, starting with the unknown duration of the
pandemic and travel restrictions, in a context of global economic recession.
Countries around the world are implementing a wide range of measures to mitigate
the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and to stimulate the recovery of the tourism
sector.

As a result of the pandemic, many countries and regions have imposed

quarantines, entry bans, or other restrictions for citizens of or recent travellers to
the most affected areas. Other countries and regions have imposed global
restrictions that apply to all foreign countries and territories, or prevent their own
citizens from travelling overseas.

Together with a decreased willingness to travel, the restrictions have had a

negative economic impact on the travel sector in those regions. A possible long-
term impact has been a decline of business travel and international conferencing,
and the rise of their virtual, online equivalents. Concerns have been raised over the
effectiveness of travel restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19.
My personal experience regarding this whole scenario of the “new normal”
is by no means any different from the rest of the population who is living their life
in quarantine (except for the hailed frontliners who are bravely fighting this battle
for us, ordinary citizens). It’s like summer vacation, but the difference is you can’t
spend it anywhere except inside the loving embrace of your own home, for one
step outside increases your chances of being infected with the virus. I’ve somehow
started getting accustomed to spending my days in utter boredom but I can say that
one thing this pandemic has brought to us is our bigger opportunity to spend more
time with our family.
With social distancing, we now separate ourselves from other parts of
society. Humans are made to be out and about and socialize with beings on Earth.
These unfortunate events have led many people to be disconnected from society.
As the world slowly turns back to normal, all we can do as humans who put our
greatest concerns on our survival and safety is be the obedient role-players that we
should be. Despite the ongoing battle with this pandemic, we should always
remember to be cautious and not only think for our own selves, but with regards to
others as well.