THE IMPACT OF PANDEMIC CORONA VIRUS ON COMMUNICATION IN TOURISM

Communication and information technologies have greatly influenced the changes of tourism as an activity, especially when it comes to distribution channels in tourism, achieving more accurate and closer communication with customers/tourists, easier access to information, which ultimately affected the creation of market competition with the focus on the tourist. Communication in the tourism industry is of universal importance if the goal is an adequate level of tourist satisfaction as well as competitiveness in the local and global market. Communication is not just promotional activity aimed at attracting tourists, but the totality of relationships that are realized before arrival, during staying and after the departure of tourists, and their quality determines the ratio of expected and achieved satisfaction of a service user. The aim of the research is to understand the different effects that communication (verbal and non-verbal) has in restrictive business conditions. In addition, the paper seeks to point out the practical aspects of the communication process of all participants, directly or indirectly, involved in the creation and provision of services in the tourism industry, with reference to the time of the pandemic.