A Study on Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Tourism Industry in Kerala and Resilience of State Government

ABSTRACT Kerala is a prime high-end tourism destination in the Indian sub-continent. Over the past three decades, tourism, one of the largest and fastest growing sectors of the Kerala economy, has undergone continuous expansion and diversification. Tourism sector helps in the creation of jobs and enterprises, export revenues, and infrastructure development. As tourism alone contributes 10 per cent to the state's economy and employs 23.5 per cent of the total workforce. But the outbreak of the epidemic has seriously affected the economy of Kerala. As a result of this pandemic, Kerala has imposed many restrictions like quarantine, entry ban and other travel restrictions. These restrictions have adversely affected the tourism sector. According to the Kerala Tourism Department, the total tourist arrivals in the state slumped by 72.8% from 18.99 lakh in 2019 5.33 lakh in 2020. Consequently, the total earnings from tourism declined by 75%, the revenue generated from tourist footfall were 11,336 crore in 2020 as compared to Rupees 45,019 crore in 2019. In order to revive the tourism sector, the State Government has announced various schemes such as the Chief Minister's Tourism Loan Assistance Scheme (CMTLAS), Tourism Working Capital Support Scheme, Tourism Employment Support Scheme, Tourism Houseboat Support Scheme and Tourism Guide Support Scheme etc. In this context, this study analyzes the economic impact of the COVID-19 on the tourism sector in Kerala and also describes the important schemes taken by the state government to revive the tourism sector. This study is based on secondary data.