Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Jordan as a case study- year 2021

When boarders closed in May 2019 tourism and related sectors were among the sectors that nearly closed completely due to full and partial lockdown, which represented the most prominent government procedures to limit the spread of the virus. Therefore, this study is the first of its kind that attempted to explore the impact of the pandemic on the tourism sector in Jordan and assess the government’s role in supporting the sector and preventing its collapse. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to identify the main issues through questionnaires answered by 59 tourism organizations. Based on the data analyses and the hypotheses testing the study concluded that despite the great procedures and efforts undertaken by the Jordanian government to support the tourism sector. These measures did not meet the magnitude of the damage out of which  98.3% of study sample declared affected by the crisis , the travel sector was most influenced and 60%  of respondents saw that they lost 80-90% of income in 2019 since the pandemic stated. The study projected the loss of 2, 061 direct jobs and 1,375 decline in income due reduction of salaries by companies mainly the travel sector and tour guides. The study showed that the measures undertaken did not fulfill the sector hopes in terms of injecting liquidity, supporting small and medium enterprises, and empowering their workers to continue to work and meet the new tourism requirements for the post-Covid-19 era.

Sources of fund: self-funding (by TASUD team)