The Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism and Hospitality Industry: A Qualitative Investigation in Pakistan

Abstract

The tourism and hospitality industry provides its various effects on economic, social, and political sides of any country. Also, it retains a great importance in the overall economic development of the country. The year 2019 was the triumphant year for the Tourism industry in Pakistan, and its contribution rate to Pakistan’s GDP was 5.9% in 2019.However, in the year 2020, because of COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s GDP has been declined significantly, The tourism and hospitality industry is one of the sectors which is highly effected by COVID-19 pandemic. The data were collected from the WHO website, existing literature, and online surveys. Findings revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic led to the rapid shut down in cities and states across the boundary of Pakistan and negatively affected to all the sectors of tourism and hospitality industry like airline operations, hotel sector, travel agencies, tourist inflow, and entertainment sector of the country. The finding disclosed that the rapid increase in COVID-19 pandemic cancelled all the hotel and tourism bookings which lead to unemployment and revenue loss. The resulting loss of the potential revenue negatively affected the Pakistan’s economy and increased the poverty line. The aim of this study was to contribute to the existing literature by exploring the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and hospitality industry in Pakistan, and to identify the economic resilience scheme that would be emerged because of this pandemic.