COVID-19 Pandemic – A Testing Time for Tourism and Hospitality in Thailand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/abacodijournal.2021.3Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has recently led to a global alarm due to its fatal nature from the spread of the coronavirus. Thailand is currently aware of this unprecedented time and the Thai cabinet has imposed a state of emergency to prevent the spread of this virus. The tourism and hospitality sectors have been devastated by the coronavirus. Therefore, the purpose of this study aims to examine the impact on tourism and hospitality including airline and hotel sectors. The study used adopt secondary data from various sources both academic and practitioner as critical discourse analysis for textual analysis and synthesis. Data were obtained from fifty articles discussed in this paper. The paper indicates the impact of the pandemic on tourism, airline and hotel sectors. Moreover, results are also highlighted negative impact on Thailand tourism and hospitality industry from the crisis by proven the decreased number of international tourist arrival. The implementation of social protection, and government aid policy to support people affected by the pandemic is also are presented in the result of this study. In conclusion and implication, this research/paper will further help the industries to take initiative strategies and best policies to be implemented in the future to combat the disease. Future research is also recommended in this study.
References
Alvarez, M. D., & Campo, S. (2014). The Influence of Political Conflicts on Country Image
and Intention to Visit: A Study of Israel’s Image. Tourism Management, 40, 70-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2013.05.009
Avraham, E. (2015). Destination Image Repair During Crisis: Attracting Tourism During the
Arab Spring Uprisings. Tourism Management, 47, 224–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.10.003
Campos-Soria, J. A., Inchausti-Sintes, F., & Eugenio-Martin, J. L. (2015). Understanding
Tourists’ Economizing Strategies During the Global Economic Crisis. Tourism Management, 48, 164–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.10.019
Chanel, S. (2020, April 15). ‘It’s Catastrophic’: Fiji’s Colossal Tourism Sector Devastated
by Coronavirus. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/16/its-catastrophic-fijis-colossal-tourism-sector-devastated-by-coronavirus
Dabphet, S., Scott, N., & Ruhanen, L. (2012). Applying Diffusion Theory to Destination
Stakeholder Understanding of Sustainable Tourism Development: A Case from Thailand. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20(8), 1107-1124. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2012.673618
Deegan, J. (2020, March 3). How the Coronavirus May Hit the Tourism Industry. Retrieved
from https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0303/1119857-coronavirustourism-ireland/
Ekstein, N. (2020). The Coronavirus’s Effect on Tourism Will Carry Into 2021, Experts
Say. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-13/coronavirus-s-effect-on-tourism-will-carry-into-2021-experts-say
Goodwin, H. (2020, April 12). Latest Developments in Responsible Tourism. Retrieved from
https://responsibletourismpartnership.org/latest-developments-in-responsible-tourism-04-2020/
Gössling, S., Scott, D., & Hall, C. M. (2020). Pandemics, Tourism and Global Change: A Rapid
Assessment of COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708
International Air Transport Association (IATA). (2020). COVID-19: Resources for Airlines &
Air Transport Professionals. Retrieved from https://www.iata.org/en/programs/covid-19-resources-guidelines/
International Monetary Fund. (2020). The IMF and COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Retrieved from
https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19
Jamil, Z., Waheed, Y., & Durrani, T. Z. (2016). Zika Virus, a Pathway to New Challenges.
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine, 9(7), 626-629. Https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.05.020
Jeaheng, Y., Al-Ansi, A., & Han, H. (2019). Halal-Friendly Hotels: Impact of Halal-Friendly
Attributes on Guest Purchase Behaviors in the Thailand Hotel Industry. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(6) 729-746. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2019.1631940
Khaosod English. (2020, April 29). Mass Unemployment Loon for Thai Tourism Sector:
UN. Retrieve from https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/business/2020/04/29/mass-unemployment-looms-for-thai-tourism-sector-un/
Kongoley-MIH, P. S. (2015). The Impact of Ebola on the Tourism and Hospitality Industry in
Sierra Leone. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 5(12), 542-550. Retrieved from http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-1215.php?rp=P484938
Macpherson, A., & Holt, R. (2007). Knowledge, learning and small firm growth: A systematic
review of the evidence. Research policy, 36(2), 172-192.
Ministry of Tourism and Sports. (2020). Tourist Information. Retrieved from
https://www.mots.go.th/mots_en/more_news_new.php?cid=316
Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Department of Tourism. (2020). International Tourist
Arrivals. Retrieved from https://www.mots.go.th/mots_en/more_news_new.php?cid=330
Nicolás, E. S. (2020, April 22). EU Pledges Help, as Tourism Faces €400bn hit. Retrieved
from https://euobserver.com/coronavirus/148137
Papatheodorou, A., Rosselló, J., & Xiao, H. (2010). Global Economic Crisis and Tourism:
Consequences and Perspectives. Journal of Travel Research, 49(1), 39–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287509355327
Pauchant, T. C., & Mitroff, I. (1992). Transforming the Crisis-Prone Organization: Preventing
Individual, Organizational, and Environmental Tragedies. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Royal Thai Government. (2020). Emergency Decree Invoked as COVID-19 Management
Center to be upgraded to COVID-19 Emergency Operation Center. Retrieved from https://www.thaigov.go.th/news/contents/details/27801
Scott, N., & Laws, E. (2005). Tourism Crises and Disasters: Enhancing Understanding of
System Effects. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 19(2-3), 151–160. https://doi.org/10.1300/J073v19n02_12
Staddon, J. E. R. (2020). The Role of Theory in Behavior Analysis: A Response to Unfinished
Business, Travis Thompson’s Review of Staddon's New Behaviorism. The Psychological Record, 1-7.
Thai Airways International. (2020). THAI Extends Suspension of Flight Operations for
One More Month to End of June. Retrieved https://www.thaiairways.com/en_TH/news/news_announcement/news_detail/cancelled-flight-june.page
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. (2020). Public Announcement: Extension of
Temporary Ban on all International Flights to Thailand Until 30 June 2020. Retrieved from https://www.caat.or.th/en/archives/50437
Theparat, C. (2019, September 19). Prayut: Zones Vital for Growth. Bangkok Post.
Retrieved from https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1753349/prayut-zones-vital-
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). (2020). TAT Intelligence Center for the
International Tourism. Retrieved from https://intelligencecenter.tat.or.th/articles/7807
UNWTO. (2020a). Impact Assessment of the Covid19 Outbreak on International Tourism.
Retrieved from https://www.unwto.org/impact-assessment-of-the-covid-19-outbreak-on-international-tourism
UNWTO. (2020b). International Tourism Growth Continues to Outpace The Global
Economy. Retrieved from https://www.unwto.org/international-tourism-growth-continues-to-outpace-the-economy
Zeng, B., Carter, R. W., & De Lacy, T. (2005). Short-Term Perturbations and Tourism Effects:
The Case of SARS in China. Current Issues in Tourism, 8(4), 306-322. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500508668220
Zenker, S., von Wallpach, S., Braun, E., & Vallaster, C. (2019). How the Refugee Crisis
Impacts the Decision Structure of Tourists: A Cross-Country Scenario Study. Tourism Management, 71, 197–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.10.015
