Global Journal of Management and Business Research, F: Real Estate, Event and Tourism Management, Volume 22 Issue 3

Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Evidence from the South Asian Countries Mohammed Ziauddin Abstract- The aim of this study is to explore the overall effect of COVID-19 pandemic on tourism and hospitality industry of Bangladesh and India. This research utilized journals, historical records, newspaper articles, World Health Organization statistics, governmental data, and website materials on COVID-19 incidences in tourism. Secondary research was adopted in which secondary data were collected through a comprehensive literature review. The COVID-19 outbreak has significantly affected global travel and tourism. Bangladesh and India has also experienced an adverse impact on inbound and outbound tourism. International and domestic tourists have cancelled bookings in both country and outbound tourism activities have also been banned. Airlines have cancelled flights, while hotels are almost completely vacant, and as a result, supporting tourism agencies are facing huge economic losses and employment cuts in Bangladesh and India. The intensification of COVD-19 is predicted to cause a long-term adverse impact on tourism both in Bangladesh and India. The government of Bangladesh and India government has declared an incentive package for early economic recovery that is needed for businesses to survive the pandemic. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, tourism and hospitality, bangladesh, india. I. I ntroduction a) Background of the Study he decade 2020 began with an alarming and unfortunate outbreak of a new pandemic, adding to the list of more than 30 novel diseases that the world has seen in the previous 30 years (Nkengasong, 2020). The new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak was called the novel corona virus (COVID-19) this time.COVID-19 is a respiratory disease mainly caused by SARS-CoV-2(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona virus 2) which was initially appeared in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019 (Berlin, Thomas, Le Faou, & Cornuz, 2020; Vardavas & Nikitara, 2020) and on March 11, 2020, and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic (Caponnetto et al., 2020). It is also known as corona virus which was coined on February 11, 2020 and belongs to the family of single stranded RNA viruses. Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012 (Alqahtani et al., 2020; Su et al., 2016). Particularly, the symptoms and clinical presentation (e.g. fever, fatigue, dry cough, myalgia, and dyspnea) of COVID-19 is related to SARS and MERS (Alqahtani et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). As of 25 March 2020, the total number of 459,419 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported with 20,818 deaths around the world which represents a severe public health threat and risk to the health of the world population (Alqahtani et al., 2020; Grundy, Suddek, Filippidis, Majeed, & Coronini- Cronberg, 2020). COVID-19 is transmitted mainly by small droplets from the nose or mouth that are ejected when a person with COVID-19 coughs, sneezes, or talks.COVID-19 continues to have an effect on many countries, with long-term impacts on labor-intensive industries like tourism and hospitality. Although tourism researchers and practitioners all over the world seem to be becoming more involved in evaluating destination vulnerabilities to pandemics like COVID-19, few have been able to get important information about tourism and COVID-19 from practitioners working in the area where the initial outbreak occurred (i.e. Wuhan and Hubei Province).Such data does not immediately lead to a theoretical understanding of destination sustainability or resilience, but it may help to underpin theory-building efforts in future studies while also offering practical background, lessons, and solutions for tourism and hospitality businesses dealing with COVID-19 and other pandemics (Knight, Xiong, Lan, & Gong, 2020). b) Statement of the Problem The world’s economy was almost shut down overnight due to the Covid-19 pandemic (UNWTO, 2020). The pandemic has raised an enormous threat to the tourism and hospitality industry. Community lockdowns, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, travel and mobility limits, and other strategies to flatten the COVID-19 curve have resulted in the temporary closing of several tourism and hospitality businesses and a substantial decrease in demand for businesses that were permitted to continue to operate (Gursoy & Chi, 2020). Almost every restaurant was asked to restrict their business to take-out only. The government’s travel T © 2022 Global Journals 1 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue III Version I Year 2022 ( ) F Thus, some of this virus was responsible for the Severe Author: B.Sc in Tourism and Hospitality Management & EMBA (Running). e-mail: noyonzia13@gmail.com