Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry: An evaluation from the hotel managers' perspective

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic, which is seen as a source of crisis worldwide, has also had negative effects in many ways in the tourism industry. In this process, it is important to find out the problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and its solutions to tourism businesses. The aim of the research is to determine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the tourism industry, to evaluate the views of hotel managers and to offer solutions to problems in hotels. The research data were collected through face-to-face interviews with the hotel managers in Bodrum-Mugla. The interviews, in which a semi-structured interview technique was used to collect data, were held between July-September 2020. The data were analyzed with the descriptive analysis technique. The analysis was respectively carried out as the conceptual structure, modelling of data, organizing data through tables, and interpretation of findings. As a result, it has been revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic affects hotel businesses economically, socially and psychologically.