What are Economic, Psychological and Social Consequences of the Covid-19 Crisis on Tourism Employees?


Abstract views: 1411 / PDF downloads: 786

Authors

  • Meltem Altinay Ozdemir PhD., Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Fethiye A.S.M.K. Vocational School, Tourism and Travel Services Department, Fethiye/Mugla, Turkey. meltemozdemir@mu.edu.tr, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3002-6127

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46291/IJOSPERvol7iss4pp1137-1163

Keywords:

Tourism employment, tourism workforce, impacts of Covid-19, pandemic, government incentives

Abstract

This paper purposes to investigate the economic, psychological and social effects of the Covid-19 crisis on tourism employees in Turkey. The exploratory research approach was adopted and an online interview, one of the qualitative research methods, was used for data collection. This paper presents valuable evidence to contribute to the literature by emphasizing the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourism employees. Tourism employees, who are the core of tourism employment, have been severely affected economically, psychologically and socially during the pandemic process. They were economically subjected to “short-term working allowance” and “severe income loss” and faced the “fear” of losing their jobs and their loved ones psychologically. Furthermore, it has been stated that they have a really “boring” social life during the pandemic. These effects have been sought to strengthen with government incentives such as “unemployment benefit, short-term working allowance, unemployment benefit for suspended personnel, credit support, pandemic social support application, Covid-19 staff training, the supply of personal protective equipment and hygienic working environment”. The Covid-19 is an unprecedented and ongoing crisis for the global tourism industry. This paper serves as a prelude to a broader field of tourism employees during the pandemic and offers theoretical and practical insight for future crises and tourism employees.

References

Alaeddinoğlu, F., & Rol, S. (2020). Covid-19 Pandemic and Its Effects on Tourism. Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, Outbreak Disease Special Issue, 233–258.

Altinay Ozdemir, M. (2020). Covid-19 Salgını Sonrası Alınan Önlemlerle Turizm: Muhtemel Senaryolar. Journal of Recreation and Tourism Research (JRTR), 7(2), 222-238). https://doi.org/1031771/jrtr.2020.62

Altınay Özdemir, M., & Ergün, E. (2020). Karşılayıcı Seyahat Acentelerinin Perspektifinden Pandemi ve Post Pandemi Süreci. Atlas International Congress on Social Sciences 7, 23-25 September 2020, 772–787.

Bakar, N. A., & Rosbi, S. (2020). Effect of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to tourism industry. International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science, 7(4), 189–193. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.74.23

Bas, T., & Sivaprasad, S. (2020). The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis on the Travel and Tourism Sector: UK Evidence. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3623404

Baum, T., Mooney, S. K. K., Robinson, R. N. S., & Solnet, D. (2020). COVID-19’s impact on the hospitality workforce – new crisis or amplification of the norm? International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(9), 2813–2829. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2020-0314

Bogale, M., Kelkay, S., & Mengesha, W. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic and Tourism Sector in Ethiopia. Journal of Business and Economics, 1–9.

Brooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. In The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8

European Commission. (2020). COVID 19- economic package – multiannual financial framework 2014- 2020. Date Accessed: 22nd June 2020, Retrieved From https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/coronavirus-response/jobs-and-economy-during-coronavirus-pandemic_en

Eurostat. (2020a). Tourism industries -employment. Date Accessed: 15ht May 2020, Retrieved From https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Tourism_industries_economic_analysis_April_2020_V2.xlsx&oldid=476258

Eurostat. (2020b). Tourism vital to employment in several Member States. Date Accessed: 10th July 2020, Retrieved From https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20200415-1

Follain, J. (2020). Italy readies emergency cash for workers in underground economy. Bloomberg. Date Accessed: 12th July 2020, Retrieved From https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-31/italy-readies-emergencycash-for-workers-in-underground-economy

Foo, L.-P., Chin, M.-Y., Tan, K.-L., & Phuah, K.-T. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on tourism industry in Malaysia. Current Issues in Tourism, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1777951

Goetz, J. P., & LeCompte, M. D. (1984). Ethnography and qualitative design in educational research (Orlando: A). New York: Academic Press.

Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (Vol. 2, Issue 6, pp. 105–117). Sage. Retrieved From: http://create.alt.ed.nyu.edu/courses/3311/reading/10-guba_lincoln_94.pdf

Hakim, L. (2020). COVID-19, tourism, and small islands in Indonesia: Protecting fragile communities in the global Coronavirus pandemic. Journal of Marine and Island Cultures, v9n1, 130-141. https://doi.org/10.21463/jmic.2020.09.1.08

Hamouche, S. (2020). COVID-19 and employees’ mental health: stressors, moderators and agenda for organizational actions. Emerald Open Research, 2, 15. https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.13550.1

Haryanto, T. (2020). Covıd-19 Pandemic and International Tourism Demand. JDE (Journal of Developing Economies), 5(1), 1–5.

He, G. (2020). Why NYC’s undocumented restaurant workers are the forgotten victims of the shutdown. Eater New York. Date Accessed: 23rd June 2020, Retrieved From https://ny.eater.com/2020/3/31/21199490/nyc-restaurant-undocumentedworker-coronavirus

Hunt, R. (2020). Marriott CEO: Coronavirus is hurting the hotel chain worse than 9/11 or World War II. Date Accessed: 5th July 2020, Retrieved From https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/marriott-ceo%3A-coronavirus-is-hurting-the-hotel-chain-worse-than-9-11-or-world-war-ii-20

IATA. (2020). International Air Transport Association Updates COVID-19 Financial Impacts and Relief Measures Needed. Date Accessed: 6th August 2020, Retrieved From https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2020-03-05-01/

ILO. (2020). COVID-19 and the world of work: Impact and policy responses. Date Accessed: 22nd September 2020, Retrieved From https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/briefingnote/wcms_738753.pdf

Jamal, T., & Budke, C. (2020). Tourism in a world with pandemics: local-global responsibility and action. Journal of Tourism Futures, 6(2), 181-188 https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-02-2020-0014

Järvinen, M., & Mik-Meyer, N. (2020). Qualitative Analysis Eight Approaches for the Social Sciences (London: SA).

Jiang, Y., & Wen, J. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on hotel marketing and management: a perspective article. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32 (8), 2563-2573. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2020-0237

Karagöz, Y. (2017). Spss ve Amos Uygulamaları Nitel-Nicel Karma Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri ve Yayın Etiği. Nobel Yayın-Dağıtım, Ankara.

Kementerian Kewangan Malaysia. (2020). 6th Laksana report implementation of the PRIHATIN rakyat economic stimulus package. Date Accessed: 20th November 2020, Retrieved From https://www.treasury.gov.my/

Khanal, B. P. (2020). Impact of the COVID-19 in Tourism Industry in Nepal and Policy Recommendation. Journal of Tourism & Adventure, 3(1), 76–91.

Kumar, P., & Rou, H. (2020). Impact Assessment of Covid-19: In Tourism Perspectıve. Dogo Rangsang Research Journal, 10(6), 291–295.

Lai, C. C., Shih, T. P., Ko, W. C., Tang, H. J., & Hsueh, P. R. (2020). Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): The epidemic and the challenges. In International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents (Vol. 55, Issue 3, p. 105924). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105924

Lock, S. (2020). COVID-19: job loss in travel and tourism sector worldwide 2020, by country Published by S. Lock, Aug 21, 2020 As a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the global travel and tourism market is predicted to see a loss of 75.2 million jobs worldwid. Statista.Com. Date Accessed: 23rd August 2020, Retrieved From https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107475/coronavirus-travel-tourism-employment-loss/

Luty, J. (2020a). Europe: jobs at risk in travel and tourism due to COVID-19 2020 Published by J. Luty, Mar 27, 2020 According to projections from March 2020, the travel and tourism sector in Germany is expected to be the most affected in Europe by the coronavirus (COVID-1). Statista.Com. Date Accessed: 13rd May 2020, Retrieved From https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107432/travel-and-tourism-jobs-at-risk-europe-coronavirus/

Luty, J. (2020b). Number of employees in tourism-related industries in Turkey in 2019, by industry. Statista.Com. Date Accessed: 18th October 2020, Retrieved From https://www.statista.com/statistics/919104/tourism-industry-employment-turkey-by-sector/

Mao, Y., He, J., Morrison, A. M., & Andres Coca-Stefaniak, J. (2020). Effects of tourism CSR on employee psychological capital in the COVID-19 crisis: from the perspective of conservation of resources theory. Current Issues in Tourism, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1770706

Markey, R., & McIvor, J. (2018). Regulating casual employment in Australia. Journal of Industrial Relations, 60(5), 593-618. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022185618778084

Martins, A., Riordan, T., & Dolnicar, S. (2020). A post-COVID-19 model of tourism and hospitality workforce resilience. SocArXiv. Date Accessed: 8th October 2020, Retrieved From https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/4quga/

Matiza, T. (2020). Post-COVID-19 crisis travel behaviour: towards mitigating the effects of perceived risk. Journal of Tourism Futures, ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-04-2020-0063

Maxwell, J. A. (1996). Qualitative researh design: An interactive approach. Thosand Oaks, CA:Sage.

OECD.Stat. (2020). Enterprises and employment in tourism. Date Accessed: 20th October 2020, Retrieved From https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode

Offical Statistics Portal. (2020). Adrese Dayalı Nüfus Kayıt Sistemi Sonuçları, 2019. Date Accessed: 8th November 2020, Retrieved From: http://www.resmiistatistik.gov.tr/

Page, S., Yeoman, I., Munro, C., Connell, J., & Walker, L. (2006). A case study of best practice - Visit Scotland’s prepared response to an influenza pandemic. Tourism Management, 27(3), 361-393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2006.01.001

Patton, M. Q. (1987). How to use qualitative methods in evaluation. Newbury Park, CA:Sage.

Provincial Culture and Tourism Directorate. (2019). Istanbul Tourism Statistics Report-December/2019. Date Accessed: 8th June 2020, Retrieved From https://istanbul.ktb.gov.tr/Eklenti/68945,aralik-2019-turizm-istatistikleri-istanbulpdf.pdf?0

Radic, A., Lück, M., Ariza-Montes, A., & Han, H. (2020). Fear and trembling of cruise ship employees: Psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(18):6741

Reuters. (2020). Amid Europe’s lockdowns, no safety net for millions in black economy. The New York Times. Date Accessed: 4th July 2020, Retrieved From https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-blackeconomy/amideuropes-lockdowns-no-safety-net-for-millions-in-black-economy-idUKKBN21J4LS

Tam, C. W. C., Pang, E. P. F., Lam, L. C. W., & Chiu, H. F. K. (2004). Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hongkong in 2003: Stress and psychological impact among frontline healthcare workers. Psychological Medicine, 34(7), 1197. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291704002247

The Lancet Planetary Health. (2020). Adaptive anxiety. 4, e124. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30088-7

Turizm Ajansı. (2019, May 9). Antalya’da turizm istihdamında büyük kayıp! Date Accessed: 8th August 2020, Retrieved From: https://www.turizmajansi.com/haber/antalya-da-turizm-istihdaminda-buyuk-kayip-h37378.

Turizm Ajansı. (2020). İşte Türkiye’nin 2019 turist sayısı ve turizm geliri... Date Accessed: 5th September 2020, Retrieved From: https://www.turizmajansi.com/haber/iste-turkiye-nin-2019-turist-sayisi-ve-turizm-geliri-h35213

TUROB. (2019). 2018 Yılında Muğla İli Gümrük Kapılarından Ülkemize Giriş Yapan Turistlerin Aylara ve Hudut Kapılarına Göre Dağılımı. Date Accessed: 18th May 2020, Retrieved From: http://www.turob.com/Files/dosyalar/pdf/MuğlaAralık2019.pdf

WHO. (2020a). 30 August 2020 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Date Accessed: 27th September 2020, Retrieved From https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200831-weekly-epi-update-3.pdf?sfvrsn=d7032a2a_4

WHO. (2020b). WHO Director-General’s Opening Remarks at the Media Briefing on COVID-19. Date Accessed: 27th September 2020, Retrieved From https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarksatthe-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020

Williams, C. C., & Kayaoglu, A. (2020). COVID-19 and undeclared work: impacts and policy responses in Europe. The Service Industries Journal, 40(13–14), 914–931. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2020.1757073

World Bank. (2020). TCdata360-Travel and Tourism direct contribution to employment. Date Accessed: 10th October 2020, Retrieved From https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/tot.direct.emp?country=TUR&indicator=24644&viz=line_chart&years=1995,2028

WTTC. (2020a). Economic Impact Reports. Date Accessed: 27th October 2020, Retrieved From https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact

WTTC. (2020b). Recovery Scenarios 2020 & Economic Impact from COVID-19. Date Accessed: 27th October 2020, Retrieved From:https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact/Recovery-Scenarios-2020-Economic-Impact-from-COVID-19

WTTC. (2020c). Travel & Tourism Economic Impact From COVID-19. Date Accessed: 28th October 2020, Retrieved From https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact

WTTC. (2020d). Travel & Tourism Global Economic Impact & Trends 2020 Report. Date Accessed: 28th October 2020, Retrieved From https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact

Yıldırım, A., & Şimşek, H. (2013). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri.(9. Genişletilmiş Baskı) Ankara: Seçkin Yayınevi.

Zhou, X., Snoswell, C. L., Harding, L. E., Bambling, M., Edirippulige, S., Bai, X., & Smith, A. C. (2020). The Role of Telehealth in Reducing the Mental Health Burden from COVID-19. Telemedicine and e-Health, 26(4), 377-379.

Downloads

Published

2020-12-23

How to Cite

Ozdemir, M. A. (2020). What are Economic, Psychological and Social Consequences of the Covid-19 Crisis on Tourism Employees?. International Journal of Social, Political and Economic Research, 7(4), 1137–1163. https://doi.org/10.46291/IJOSPERvol7iss4pp1137-1163

Issue

Section

Articles