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The coronavirus pandemic had a devastating impact on the tourism industry worldwide. The present work analyses the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic. This paper also discusses the stimulus packages offered by the Czech government and initiatives undertaken by Czech regions. The results indicate that despite intensive economic support and a large number of regional campaigns, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profoundly negative effect on the tourism industry in the Czech Republic. The drop in tourism expenditure reached more than 50%, from 308 billion to 136 billion CZK. The number of foreign tourists arriving in the Czech Republic has fallen dramatically. In 2021, foreign tourism reached only 24% of the pre-pandemic numbers. Around 10% of businesses did not survive the COVID-19 crisis. Many employees moved to other sectors. Available analyses of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Czech Republic suggest that it will take at least three years to recover from the decrease in performance © 2022, e-Review of Tourism Research.All Rights Reserved.
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Disasters are a primary influence in the global development landscape given their unequal impacts across society and calls for transformative change in their aftermath. Recovering from disasters is one component of development that is coming under scrutiny. This is especially so in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, whose scale, scope, and cascading effects mean that the uncertain prospects for recovery will be complicated and endure long term. COVID-19 has forced a reappraisal of what recovery encompasses, who it is for, and how it can better enable preparedness for future disasters. Drawing upon interviews with a global community of experts specializing in different areas of disaster governance, this paper focuses on the lessons emerging for recovery-related theory and practice deriving from the pandemic. We elaborate a multi-dimensional framework to support those working on local recovery planning within communities and operating across different sectors. The framework captures the interconnected issues across six principal domains—communities, economic, infrastructure, environment, health, and governance—representing key impact areas around which strategies and multifaceted actions can be developed. We suggest a three-step process using a systems approach to develop a recovery strategy that operationalizes the framework and addresses the complexity of long-term recovery for development. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the global tourism industry and continues to impact the Chinese hotel sector today. Using a multiple cases study method, we analyzed the response strategies of four Chinese hotel groups - Jinling, Jinjiang, New Century Hotels & Resorts, and Huazhu Group Ltd.-across four successive periods: (1) outbreak;(2) first recovery;(3) struggle;and (4) a predicted finest moment. We identified four internal recovery strategies: (a) rapid response, (b) recovery exploration, (c) optimization and upgrading, and (d) rejuvenation. Hotel groups' resilience proceeded through all four stages include (re)activation, consolidation, extension, and ecosystem. Each stage demonstrated the companies' movement from reliance on internal resources to interdependence across the supply chain with on the help of digital services such as contactless check-in, robot delivery and cloud-based PMS. We additionally identified a close link between stakeholders including online travel agencies, government and hotel chains. The analysis in the present study is premised on resource utilization, product and service development, organizational management and operation, leadership, digitalization, and social responsibility. Suggestions to cope with a long-duration crisis like COVID-19 are also provided.
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RATIONALE: Coronavirus (COVID-19)-related stressors precipitated the mental health crisis and increased substance use in Canada and worldwide. As the pandemic continues to evolve, monitoring and updating substance use-related ED visit trends is essential to ensure the stability and quality of ED services under the prolonged pandemic timeline. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This study examined the trends and characterization of substance use-related ED visits during the pandemic among adolescents and young adults (aged 13-25 years) in Ontario, Canada. METHODS: Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted using population-based, repeated cross-sectional data. The volume, patient characteristics (age and sex) and hospital/ED visit features (triage to end time, timing of the visit, triage level and referral source) were compared before (2019) and during COVID-19 (2020 and 2021) by each substance type (alcohol, opioid, cannabis, sedatives, cocaine, stimulants and multiple psychoactive substances). RESULTS: Substance use-related ED visits decreased by 1.5 times during the pandemic compared to the prepandemic level. However, opioid-related ED visits continued to show an increasing trend and did not recover to the prepandemic level in 2021. Moreover, a significant increase in emergent/life-threatening triage levels (Canadian Triage and Acuity Scales 1 and 2) in substance-related ED visits is alarming (2019 = 36.8%, 2020 = 38.7% and 2021 = 38.4%). We also found a general decrease in weekend visits, overnight visits and visits on statutory holidays, and substance use-related ED patients tended to stay longer (over 6 h) in the ED during the pandemic. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate unmet substance use treatment needs due to the limited accessibility and heightened threshold for ED visits during the pandemic. Providing access to substance treatment/programs outside ED is critical to reducing substance use-related complications presenting in the ED. Also, policies addressing the pandemic-related complexities in the ED and Health Human Resource challenges are warranted.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Substance-Related Disorders , Humans , Young Adult , Adolescent , Analgesics, Opioid , Cross-Sectional Studies , Ontario , Emergency Service, HospitalABSTRACT
In this research, the case study of the municipality of Los Cabos Baja California Sur, Mexico is presented, with the objective of analyzing recovery strategies, to increase the resilience of tourist destinations, when they face attacks from external factors that threaten their stability and development;The methodology is qualitative, with an exploratory, descriptive and explanatory scope, interviews were carried out with key stakeholders of the tourist destination, with an exploratory script validated by experts at 97%, including profile dimensions, impact scenarios, resilience strategies, and recovery phases, the statistics of the destination and a virtual ethnography were compared, which allowed a broader vision of the problems and the evaluation of the response in two aspects: the COVID-19 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2);and the response analysis on the impact of Hurricane Odile in 2014. The main results showed that the participation of public and private actors related to public policy regarding tourism is central. Although Los Cabos has come out of various crises and currently has a walking strategy that has allowed a small recovery, there is no way to determine a realistic approach to the economic recovery of the destination. The impact on the poorly diversified economy of the region makes it difficult to sustain the operation of companies and the jobs of the population. Biosafety indicators for tourists and residents should be incorporated into good practices in the sector and the resilience strategies of the tourist destination.Alternate :En esta investigación, se presenta el estudio de caso del municipio de Los Cabos Baja California Sur, México, con el objetivo de analizar estrategias de recuperación, para incrementar la resiliencia de destinos turísticos, cuando estos se enfrentan a embates de factores externos que amenazan su estabilidad y desarrollo;la metodología es cualitativa, con alcance exploratorio, descriptivo y explicativo, se efectuaron entrevistas a actores clave del destino turístico, con un guion de corte exploratorio validado por expertos al 97%, se incluyeron dimensiones de perfil, escenarios de afectación, estrategias de resiliencia y fases de recuperación, se compararon las estadísticas del destino y una etnografía virtual, lo cual permitió, tener una visión más amplia de los problemas y la evaluación de respuesta en dos vertientes: la pandemia COVID-19(SARS-CoV-2);y el análisis de respuesta en el impacto del huracán Odile en 2014. Los principales resultados mostraron que la participación los actores públicos y privados relacionados con la política pública de cara al turismo son centrales. Aunque Los Cabos ha salido adelante de diversas crisis y actualmente posee una estrategia andante que ha permitido una pequeña recuperación, no hay manera de determinar una aproximación realista de recuperación económica del destino. La afectación a la economía poco diversificada de la región, dificulta sostener la operación de las empresas y los empleos de la población. Indicadores de bioseguridad del turista y de los residentes, deberán ser incorporados a las buenas prácticas en el sector y a las estrategias de resiliencia del destino turístico.
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Purpose>This study aims to explore how professional event associations’ recovery strategies are perceived by members and to measure the consequent influence of the perceived fit of recovery strategies on organizational identification (OI), consistent behavioral intentions and long-term commitment intentions.Design/methodology/approach>Data were collected from current members of professional event management associations who work not only as event planners but also as service providers in the hospitality and tourism industry. The authors used partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the proposed model.Findings>The perceived fit between recovery strategy and internal domains, the self in particular, was found to be the most important in exerting effects directly on OI, and its indirect effects are significant on all the behavioral intentions toward the association, while the perceived fit of recovery strategy with external domains, especially the industry, was not significant with any of the other factors.Practical implications>The findings from the present study provide professional event association leaderships with significant managerial implications in establishing a sustainable business model to retain current members and increase their intentions toward consistent engagement and long-term commitment.Originality/value>Stepping forward from the strategic management and organizational behavior literature in the private sector, the authors shed light on a crisis recovery mechanism of professional associations in the event industry, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first such attempt in the event management literature.
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The global pandemic of COVID-19 has caused severe damage to the supply chain, and manufacturers may face long-term supply disruptions. A new product design change program taking into account product life cycle and lead time is introduced and incorporated into a disruption recovery model for a serial supply chain that minimizes manufacturer losses after supply chain disruption. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is presented addressing this multi-period, multi-supplier, and multi-stage problem with long-term supply disruptions. A heuristic algorithm is designed to solve the model. In a numerical example, five disruption scenarios of the recovery model are solved. The results show that the proposed disruption recovery strategy can effectively reduce the profit loss of manufacturer due to supply disruption, and demonstrate the role of the product life cycle in the selection of product design change options. The proposed model can offer a potentially useful tool to help the manufacturers decide on the optimal recovery strategy whenever the supply chain system experiences a massive disruption.
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Purpose: This paper presents the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Vietnam's tourism industry to propose appropriate recovery strategies in the future. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a combination of research methods. Data were collected from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, General Statistics Office, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and Ministry of Health. Non-parametric statistical methods were applied to analyze the differences between epidemic and non-epidemic periods and find correlations between the number of infections and data related to the performance of the tourism industry. In-depth interviews with 20 people linked to tourism activities were conducted to analyze the impacts and propose strategies for future recovery. Findings: The results demonstrate the severe impact of the pandemic on Vietnam's tourism industry based on a decrease in the number of visitors, business activities, revenue and employment rate. Therefore, to recover tourism – Vietnam's key economic sector in the future – developing reasonable strategies to build a safe tourism environment, building a sustainable tourist market, diversifying and improving tourism high-quality tourism products, marketing, human resources, digital transformation and sustainable tourism are necessary, along with the development trend of the industry after COVID-19. Originality/value: This paper synchronously and systematically presents the effects of COVID-19 on Vietnam's tourism industry based on official data. Strategies are proposed to handle these effects on a reliable scientific basis. This study can be considered a valuable reference for researchers and managers of tourism in developing countries, such as Vietnam. © 2022, Hoa Dinh Vu, Anh Thi Ngoc Nguyen, Nga Thi Phuong Nguyen and Duy Ba Tran.
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This study aims to estimate the losses of tourism-related sectors and businesses to take recovery steps by disseminating policies and strategic directions. This study uses the Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) to calculate losses. This study indicates that the average percentage of losses in the tourism sector from January to August 2020 is 68% (9,508 million USD) to 69% (10,328 million USD). Several sectors experienced losses, especially accommodation (2978 to 3235 million USD);food and beverages (1750 to 1900 million USD);and shopping (1530 to 1662 million USD). Business actors need to know the socialization of government policies such as fiscal stimulus, CHSE (Cleanliness Health Safety Sustainability) certification, and market reactivation. The direction of the right strategy is also carried out, such as product innovation, improvement of health protocols, digitization, and certification.
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While the debate on online service failure and recovery strategies has been given considerable attention in the marketing and information systems literature, the evolving Covid-19 pandemic has brought about new challenges both theoretically and empirically in the consumption landscape. To fully understand customers' responses to service failure during a crisis we asked 70 millennials from three European Countries-Italy, France, and the UK-to describe their responses to service failure during the Covid-19 pandemic (30 completed a 4-week diary and 40 completed a 4-week qualitative survey). Drawing on phenomenological, constructivist, and hermeneutical approaches, and utilizing an actor-network theory perspective, the current study proposes a new framework for understanding customers' responses to online service failure and recovery strategies during the Covid-19 pandemic. Conclusions highlight implications for theory, policy, and management practice through extending comprehensions of service failure recovery processes by examining how marketing policies generate different social impacts during a crisis situation which facilitate the achievement of customer satisfaction and positive outcomes.
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The current COVID-19 pandemic has hugely disrupted supply chains (SCs) in different sectors globally. The global demand for many essential items (e.g., facemasks, food products) has been phenomenal, resulting in supply failure. SCs could not keep up with the shortage of raw materials, and manufacturing firms could not ramp up their production capacity to meet these unparalleled demand levels. This study aimed to examine a set of congruent strategies and recovery plans to minimize the cost and maximize the availability of essential items to respond to global SC disruptions. We used facemask SCs as an example and simulated the current state of its supply and demand using the agent-based modeling method. We proposed two main recovery strategies relevant to building emergency supply and extra manufacturing capacity to mitigate SC disruptions. Our findings revealed that minimizing the risk response time and maximizing the production capacity helped essential item manufacturers meet consumers' skyrocketing demands and timely supply to consumers, reducing financial shocks to firms. Our study suggested that delayed implementation of the proposed recovery strategies could lead to supply, demand, and financial shocks for essential item manufacturers. This study scrutinized strategies to mitigate the demand-supply crisis of essential items. It further proposed congruent strategies and recovery plans to alleviate the problem in the exceptional disruptive event caused by COVID-19.
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic poses a challenge to global mental health. Loneliness and isolation may put people at higher risk for increased psychological distress. However, there is a lack of research investigating the development of COVID-19-related distress over time. Materials and Methods: We undertook an online survey among general population (N = 1903) in Germany throughout 6 months from the peak transmission period in April to the off-peak period by September 2020. Results: We found that the average prevalence of psychological distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic significantly rose from 24% to 66% between the peak and off-peak transmission period, respectively. Unemployment rate and loneliness increased negative mental health outcomes, although the number of active COVID-19 cases decreased from April to September. Psychological distress scores increased mostly in female, young, and lonely people. Conclusions: Our results underline the importance of considering innovative alternatives to facilitate employment opportunities, distant contacts, and self-help over the course of the pandemic. Our study highlights the urgent need to pay attention to mental health services specifically targeting female, young, unemployed, and lonely people.