The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on tourism employees: was it the last straw?

Tourism, as one of the most vulnerable industries, has survived numerous global crises with substantial negative impact on economies, communities, businesses, and individuals. Despite the circumvention of the industry after those experiences of mild and severe crises, COVID-19 pandemic has been the most serious case with deep global impact in every corner of the world leading to the explosion of academic research on a plethora of pandemic aspects. However, research offering insights on tourism and hospitality employees’ experiences, is scarce in the relevant literature in spite of the chronic problems of employee retention, qualified and long-term labor force. Therefore, the aim of this study addresses at examining the experiences of hotel employees in Türkiye during and after COVID-19, which caused sudden and deep changes in the lives following the severe decline in tourism employment and economic problems it ushered in. The data was collected through in-depth interviews with 21 individuals who formerly worked in city or resort hotels at various positions and departments. Two sensemaking perspectives were integrated to find out the consequences of the pandemic leading to the causes and factors to end working in the industry. Study findings offer important insights into pandemic-related dynamics and could support the development of effective tourism policy and practices leading to improve crisis management efforts in the tourism and hospitality industry.