Governments and organizations use economic systems to organize the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services across geographical boundaries. A better understanding of the economic processes helps understand how business adapts to external and internal influences. Pichler and Farmer (2022) analyze the effects of numerous factors that impact economic systems. I selected this journal article because its authors best illustrated the impact of pandemics on supply and demand. Pichler and Farmers (2022) article has extensively studied the COVID-19 pandemic and how it can affect the production and distribution of goods and services. As a counterpoint to the conclusions of Pichler and Farmers (2022) research, the terrible economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could be averted with proper preparation and planning (LoGiudice et al., 2020). Employees were severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and its subsequent economic repercussions.
Natural catastrophes and pandemics negatively influence the supply and demand in an economy. I discovered that government-mandated national lockdowns restrict COVID-19 propagation and negatively affect the economy. Employees from many industries were unable to work during the shutdown. I discovered that imposing input constraints negatively influences economic outcomes, making the budgeting assumption critical in anticipating severe economic outcomes. To analyze the economic implications of the COVID-19 outbreak, the authors produced many macroeconomic models that consider the industrial networks features. I discovered that the number of baseline disturbances and network density considerably influenced model predictions.
Because economic impacts are embedded in industrial networks, the initial supply and demand disruptions may underestimate the full severity of the economic effect. When demand declined, I noted that the sales of firms and suppliers plummeted. I realized that consumer input constraints are developed due to providers limited manufacturing capabilities and that downstream impacts would occur. Firms will have less demand for inputs for production due to lower productive capacity, which will impact upstream suppliers of these inputs.
The spread of COVID-19 has impacted many people and industries globally, and multinational companies (MNCs) are not an exception. MNCs typically offer better wages and working conditions than smaller local companies (Bohle and Regan, 2021, p. 80). In Ireland, the top ten MNCs account for almost half of all corporate tax receipts and can appeal to multiple levels of governance (Bohle and Regan, 2021, p. 80). As MNCs are major employers, it is important to determine their prospects to operate in the post-pandemic world of 2022.
The coronavirus has been in peoples lives for quite some time, and its presence is anticipated to decline. Despite the fast spread of Omicron, the newest variant is less malevolent, and many countries are moving toward a new chapter of the pandemic (Kresge and Loh, 2022, para 1-2). Governments are expected to focus less on COVID-19 and regard it as one of the many challenges for public health (Kresge and Loh, 2022, para 4). People wish to regain their basic freedom, with the virus circulating but being more predictable and at a lower rate (Kresge and Loh, 2022, para 6-7). Therefore, businesses, including multinational companies, must adapt their processes and policies to operate successfully in 2022.
MNCs should concentrate on employee well-being when assessing how to adapt to post-pandemic changes. COVID-19 has led to depression, anxiety, and poor sleep quality, increasing work stress (Saleem, Malik, and Qureshi, 2021, p. 1; Universari and Harsono, 2021, p. 46). On the organizational side, work stress can undermine performance and generate negative work behavior (Urie_i, 2019, p. 213). Therefore, Forbes suggests that in 2022, companies will prioritize employee well-being, which includes physical, emotional, social, financial, and career wellness (Meister, 2022, para. 2). While each aspect is important to ensure stability and high productivity, businesses can encourage employees to focus on mental health, relaxation, and mindfulness.
Multinational corporations should emphasize employees mental well-being in response to the pandemic. Hamouche (2020, p. 6) states that a well-organized mental health system can mitigate the consequences of COVID-19 and suggests that organizations should develop short- and long-term plans to support employees. Communication is crucial in managing stress as it reduces employee uncertainty (Hamouche, 2020, p. 7). Therefore, managers must design communication plans to present decisions on how the company will operate and involve employees in preparing the post-pandemic business plan (Hamouche, 2020, p. 7). MNCs should also strengthen workforce policies concerning stigma prevention to protect employees by providing timely and accurate information about the virus (Hamouche, 2020, p. 7). Moreover, training is considered one of the protective factors against mental health issues as it educates employees on how to behave during and after the pandemic (Hamouche, 2020, p. 7-8). Finally, companies must create plans to ensure gradual return-to-work plans for quarantined or working-from-home employees to decrease stress (Hamouche, 2020, p. 8). MNCs should share goals with employees, deliver reliable information, and provide emotional support to address mental health.
Furthermore, multinational companies can encourage employees to work by focusing on relaxation and work absorption. Work absorption refers to an individuals psychological state during work and can increase work engagement (Xu et al., 2020, p. 2). Relaxation positively affects work absorption because workday breaks present restorative benefits (Xu et al., 2020, p. 10). Employers should offer various activities for short breaks, such as progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing (Xu et al., 2020, p. 10). Companies can also consider changes in workplace design, like implementing silent rooms and green spaces (Xu et al., 2020, p. 10). After a continuous work period, relaxing can restore employees mental resources and advance performance.
Mindfulness is one more way for multinational companies to support employee well-being. Mindfulness is an awareness of ones current experience that an individual can train through meditation (Zheng et al., 2020, p. 3). Mindfulness enables people to observe and accept their thoughts without judgment and reduces employee stress (Zheng et al., 2020, p. 3). Moreover, mindfulness helps people with sleep problems related to COVID-19 by influencing sleep quantity and positively affecting work engagement (Zheng et al., 2020, p. 9). Companies should design employee care programs based on mindfulness practices, such as morning meditations (Zheng et al., 2020, p. 10). Mindful employees can better perceive their state at specific periods and calmly analyze situations.
Although companies can offer several ways to support employees mentally, it is significant to consider whether people wish to go back into large groups, such as those at the workplace. A study conducted at the beginning of the pandemic shows that people understood the necessity of quarantine but also wished not to be isolated from their loved ones (Okoloba et al., 2020, p. 218). However, multiple participants stated that they or those close to them had lost jobs or incomes while witnessing prices rise (Okoloba et al., 2020, p. 219). More recent trends suggest that many employees desire to proceed with hybrid work, indicating unreadiness to return to the office (Meister, 2022, para. 8). Nevertheless, hybrid work is expected to promote employee turnover and result in some employers requiring a return to the office (Kropp and McRae, 2022, para. 16, 28). People may not be prepared to go back to large crowds, but they want to spend more time with their families and have to retrieve to work to make money for a living.
Strategies on how MNCs will operate in a post-pandemic world are important as the businesses can represent parenting groups. Multinational parent companies create complex international production relationships with their affiliates and suppliers (Saurav et al., 2020, p. 9). Multiple MNCs receive some form of support from their foreign parents, such as guidance to continue operations (Saurav et al., 2020, p. 9). For instance, parenting groups can assist other businesses concerning taxes and profits (Ní Chasaide, 2020, p. 41-46). Therefore, MNCs must determine strategies for operating in 2022 and beyond, as the major businesses can affect their companions.
One should review existing businesses examples to understand the role of planning and policy development (PPD). Compared to other multinational companies, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has faced unique operational challenges during the pandemic (Burrowes, Usoro, and Campbell, 2021, p. 464). The corporation has designed a Business Continuity Plan and created a Corporate Health and Safety Team (Burrowes, Usoro, and Campbell, 2021, p. 465). IBM has generated testing protocols, expanded mental health support, and sustained hybrid work (Burrowes, Usoro, and Campbell, 2021, p. 467). Several more companies have shared their recommendations for businesses to adapt. Those recommendations include enabling flexibility, being mindful of employee preferences, and advancing virtual work (Kane et al., 2021, para. 11-15). MNCs need to change their policies to prioritize employees safety and well-being.
Multinational companies employ numerous people and support smaller businesses in several countries. Therefore, MNCs must be careful with their planning and policy development in response to the post-pandemic world to continue successfully operating and providing job places. Examples of corporations like IBM can help other businesses determine ways to adapt their work. In 2022, companies will have to rethink their strategies and emphasize employee wellness by enhancing mental health, giving time for relaxation, and training mindfulness. Employees are the basis of any company, and employers should value peoples preferences and opinions to achieve long-term goals.
Burrowes, V. J., Usoro, I. A., and Campbell, L. (2021) Early pandemic experiences and lessons learned within a multinational corporation: a testimonial of the COVID-19 pandemic, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 63(7), pp. 464-470. Web.
Okoloba, M. M. et al. (2020) A multinational pilot study on the lived experiences and mental health impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, Global Psychiatry, 3(2), pp. 211-226.
Saleem, F., Malik, M. I., and Qureshi, S. S. (2021) Work stress hampering employee performance during COVID-19: is safety culture needed?, Frontiers in Psychology, 12, pp 1-13. Web.
Saurav, A. et al. (2020) The impact of COVID-19 on foreign investors. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Urie_i, S. (2019) The effects of work stress and trust in managers on employee turnover intentions, CES Working Papers, 11(3), pp. 211-221.
Xu, S. et al. (2020) Does inconsistent social support matter? The effects of social support on work absorption through relaxation at work, Frontiers in Psychology, 11, pp. 1-13. Web.
Walmart is one of the largest and most well-known organizations in the retail industry. During the last several years, this company has become a good example of creating high-quality services, maintaining competitive advantage, and promoting efficient leadership in various directions. At this moment, Walmart has to deal with different internal and external forces, including technological advancement, customers interest in digitalization as a post-pandemic outcome, and unpredictable competitors moves. Every change may be a unique opportunity for the staff to define new perspectives or a disaster for a leader to motivate employees. Digitalization urgency due to the pandemic is the major change driving force on Walmart, and applying transformational leadership should bring positive outcomes, improve cooperation with stakeholders, and strengthen an understanding of organizational culture and mission.
Organizations Description
Working at Walmart means developing the best practices in the retail and wholesale business and offering a variety of services and products to customers. The companys main mission is to help people live better by finding new opportunities and saving money (Purpose, n.d.). It is not enough to achieve specific goals and use available resources but to create value and ensure that all stakeholders are supported and respected in their intention to strive for excellence and sustainability. Walmart stakeholders play an important role in stabilization and progress. They include leaders, the staff, suppliers, customers, competitors, and local communities that set the tone and exchange information. Each group of people has certain responsibilities to advance diversity, foster polite relationships, and support a safe environment (Purpose, n.d.). Walmarts success is explained by the possibility of uniting people from different parts of the world and implementing inspiring changes without losses.
External and Internal Driving Forces
Organizational change is an obligatory issue in every modern company, and both leaders and employees must be ready to take the necessary steps in time. It is not always easy to predict what sphere of work should be improved or replaced because of constantly changing internal and external forces. Today, most organizations have already recognized the pandemic impact and learned how to heal the employment sector after unplanned layoffs and furloughs (Vyas, 2022). Compared to internal forces that might usually be controlled, external forces create additional threats to organizational development. Rapid technological advancement, customer preferences, suppliers conditions, and competitors approaches introduce serious external challenges for Walmart. Such changes are closely related to the COVID-19 crisis and the need to change lifestyles, working conditions, and cooperation techniques (Meehan, 2021). They also promote the growth of internal forces driving change, including new missions, low performance, and poor satisfaction. Employees search for additional support and inspiration to understand the inevitability of change and the worth of their contributions. To remain competitive and save its strong image, Walmart leaders have to recognize all these changes and impacts.
Preferred Driving Force
The obligation to promote digital transformation during the post-pandemic era is the major driving force that affects Walmart leaders and employees today. In a short period, people had to face the challenges of social isolation, keeping distance, and the necessity to change lifestyles and work (Meehan, 2021). One of the primary requirements for the company is to keep safe workplaces and painfully shift working conditions. At the same time, Walmart focuses on supporting customers and other stakeholders and provides COVID-19 testing and additional information about medications and immunization (Purpose, n.d.). Digitalization is not a new step for Walmart, but the external pandemic force has dramatically changed the speed of the process and integration conditions. In addition to following social restrictions and recommendations, employees should investigate customers preferences and digitalize as much information as possible to be available 24/7. It is not easy to find experts in the technological field in a short period, and Walmart leaders have to examine available human resources. Transformational leadership effectively determines peoples needs and follows ethics and morals (Mansaray, 2019). However, such issues as urgency, health-related fears, and digitalization cannot be ignored.
Steps
To respond to the chosen driving force, the company has to take several steps following Kotters model. First, Walmart establishes a sense of urgency to examine opportunities and further prospects (Mansaray, 2019). The next step is to form a group that encourages rapid digitalization transformation. Creating a vision helps employees learn their goals and responsibilities at the moment of change (Mansaray, 2019). Then, communication and empowerment are necessary for eliminating obstacles and understanding how to continue moving toward success. Planning and improvement consolidation is critical for employee motivation and demonstration that all steps are reasonable and effective. Finally, new behaviors in digitalizing information for post-pandemic business are identified to show if the desired goals are achieved.
Employees Response
The proposed change initiative may provoke different responses among employees. On the one hand, technicians might report challenges related to increased volumes of work and the involvement of new people. On the other hand, managers and suppliers should consider health issues with new working conditions and short deadlines. More customers would want to cooperate with Walmart and learn delivery options, products, and other services. Digitalized data must be renewed constantly, and such change may cause additional emotional damage and work overload. However, if all the steps are properly taken, leaders can prepare the team, create favorable conditions, and minimize losses.
Vision for Change
Regarding the existing forces, human resources, and expectations, a vision for change defines the direction that Walmart staff should follow. In this case, enhancing digitalization as another way to resist the pandemic restrictions is the vision for elaboration. The companys mission is to save money and improve lives, and the offered idea correlates with this intention. Internal stakeholders are managers, technicians, and other employees who need to accept this change and succeed in digitalization in the post-pandemic period. This vision is not just an obligation but an opportunity to achieve another level of professionalism and be loyal to and care for customers who expect to get as much as possible with Walmart.
Stakeholders Considerations
The change initiative is never easy for internal stakeholders because routine steps should be replaced with innovative ideas, requiring more time for examination. It is expected to hear some considerations with time when the first steps of the intervention are taken. For example, employees might want to obtain examples and verbal explanations together with properly developed written guidelines. Organizational communication may be challenged, and the only response is to manage time, formulate written requests, and support each other if possible. Another consideration is the impact of digitalization on the connection between Walmart and customers. The leader has to explain that digitalization does not diminish the role of a person in the retail business but facilitates the exchange of information. Thus, taken properly, the offered change will open new opportunities for cooperation and communication.
Conclusion
The importance of digitalization under the pandemic impact is a serious driving force for Walmart to implement new change initiatives. Leaders have to help employees take the necessary steps and understand the inevitability of modifications in their working conditions. Therefore, the offered vision for change to enhance digitalization for saving money, improving life, and stabilizing customer-company relationships meets the companys overall goal. Walmart has already dealt with various tasks and obligations, and the current change should be treated as another inspirational element for sustainability, integrity, and performance excellence.
The transportation industry is key to social and economic development since it facilitates cross-national movement. Freight transportation services keep crucial products like food and medical supplies, as well as a wide range of resources, available to businesses and customers. Not only does the transportation industry contribute considerably to economic growth and job creation, but it also helps to eliminate supply shortages. To combat the spread of COVID-19, many countries have implemented restrictions on internal transit and/or limited border crossings for freight transport services. The resulting drop in commerce and supply chain disruptions impacts all countries, but landlocked underdeveloped countries may be particul3arly vulnerable. The transport industry has thus been forced to come up with innovations in response to the pandemic to facilitate easy and smooth operations and at the same time curb the spread of the virus.
Although the transition to a contactless passenger experience in the aviation industry has been underway for some time, the pandemic has accelerated the introduction of contactless technology to reduce the spread of the virus and interaction between travelers and workers. Several airlines and airports have quickly adopted contactless technologies. Etihad, for example, was the first airline to test new contactless self-service technology in April. Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) and AirAsia followed suit, introducing an end-to-end contactless airport experience in May (Baig, Hall, Jenkins, Lamarre & McCarthy, 2020). The technology is projected to be utilized more widely throughout the travel, from check-in and security processes to how travelers pay for extra services at the airport (Baig et al., 2020). Furthermore, the technology will be used on how passengers aboard the plane interact with in-flight entertainment systems on board.
Digital health passports are one developing technology created in response to the epidemic. Several projects are presently ongoing throughout the world to create and deploy digital health passports. The CommonPass initiative, launched in October last year as a collaboration between the Commons Project, the World Economic Forum, and a broad coalition of public and business partners, intends to standardize the verification of test findings and immunization records (Krakat, 2020). To utilize CommonPass, travelers must first complete a COVID-19 exam at an authorized lab and then submit the results to their mobile phone. Next, they fill out any further health screening questionnaires that the target country requires. The solution has been tested on United’s London–New York flights and will shortly be tested on Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic aircraft.
The epidemic has placed a high focus on biometrics as a must-have technology, with COVID-19 bolstering the concept of seamless travel. The number of airlines and airports that have implemented the technology has increased significantly in the last few years. Recently, Star Alliance announced the launch of a new interoperable biometric identity and identification platform for screening passengers, which was available in November 2020 at Munich and Frankfurt airports for select Lufthansa Group customers (Serrano & Kazda, 2020). Furthermore, Spirit Airlines used biometric check-in at US airports to eliminate face-to-face interaction between airline workers and customers, while Emirates debuted an integrated biometric route at Dubai International Airport.
One of the biggest concerns about the deployment of face recognition technology during the epidemic has been whether the system might determine the identities of travelers wearing masks. Indeed, several providers have been trying to improve their biometric systems so that travelers can pass through biometrics checks without removing their masks. NEC is one such company that teamed up with Star Alliance on its most recent biometrics program. The Chief Executive Officer of NEC Corporation of America, emphasized at the recent Biometrics Summit that allowing mask-wearing was an absolute prerequisite before the project could be launched. “The technology in the Star Alliance biometrics service has been taught to overcome this mask issue with accuracies of up to 98 percent,” he said (Imaoka et al., 2021). However, the implementation of new and developing technologies, like as biometrics and digital health passports, poses several issues, and securing customer data is one of the most important tasks for airlines, airports, and their partners (Kasper Frederiksen, 2021). The usage of sensitive personal information is at the heart of such solutions, and it is critical to address privacy concerns early in the development process before large-scale deployment.
While warehousing is sometimes overlooked outside of the logistics business, it is one of the foundations that keeps the industry afloat. Strong storage is among the key components of a good logistic ecosystem. To ensure faultless warehouse management, logistics companies have begun automating nearly every component to free up human resources for more vital, demanding tasks. Although there was technological integration in warehouses before the pandemic, 2021 has proven to be the year of breakthroughs. To save time and money, logistics platforms have incorporated robotic order picking and even packing, and today warehouse management services have been supplemented for efficient end-to-end shipping services.
Because of the pandemic’s pervasive fear of physical touch with other people, customers are increasingly choosing contactless services for practically every transaction they make. This includes package lockers, self-driving delivery robots, and in-app signing software. Fixed presentation scanners have been adopted by logistics facilities so that operators do not have to handle objects like handheld scanners (Klein et al 2022). Such contactless services have gained so much popularity that they are likely to become industry standards.
References
Baig, A., Hall, B., Jenkins, P., Lamarre, E., & McCarthy, B. (2020). The COVID-19 recovery will be digital: A plan for the first 90 days. McKinsey Digital, 14.
Imaoka, H., Hashimoto, H., Takahashi, K., Ebihara, A. F., Liu, J., Hayasaka, A.,… & Sakurai, K. (2021). The future of biometrics technology: from face recognition to related applications. APSIPA Transactions on Signal and Information Processing, 10.
Kasper Frederiksen, T. (2021). A Holistic Approach to Enhanced Security and Privacy in Digital Health Passports. arXiv e-prints, arXiv-2105.
Krakat, M. B. (2020). Health Passports Are Coming-What Does That Mean for Investment Migration? Investment Migration Insider.
Klein, M., Gutowska, E., & Gutowski, P. (2022). innovations in the t&l (transport and logistics) sector during the covid-19 pandemic in Sweden, Germany, and Poland. Sustainability, 14(6), 3323.
Serrano, F., & Kazda, A. (2020). The future of airports posts COVID-19. Journal of Air Transport Management, 89, 101900.
It is important to note that flying is among the essential modes of transportation, enabling people to cover the largest distances in a short period. Airports and airlines became the points of international contact and spread of the COVID-19 virus, which put a great deal of pressure on the overall flight experience of traveling customers. To bring the customers’ confidence to fly again after the pandemic, it is critical to incorporate their needs within the given restricted flight framework.
Learning from the Experience: Description
The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on air transportation, airports, and airlines operation was massive, and one of the strictest safety measures was integrated to protect the health of customers as well as staff members. Masks, hand sanitizers, social distancing, and vaccination passports became a new norm for the flying experience. I learned that airports are no longer as crowded with people as they used to be.
Learning from the Experience: Interpretation
The primary reason is the reduction in demand for air transportation, as well as airlines providing less supply of such services. The overall emptiness of the airports is additionally partly due to COVID-19 distancing requirements, which is why people were asked to stay apart from each other. I consider the described change as a negative occurrence since aviation is the future of transportation, and seeing the decline in customer numbers at airports does not reflect this idea.
In addition, I noticed that all staff members and customers were mandated to wear a mask, which is understandable. It is clear that if there is no alternative to the given safety measure, it is a priority to do so. However, I believe that facial expression and its role in the communication process cannot be overlooked. Airport and airline employees are trained to enhance customers’ flying experience, which is diminished by the masks. In the latter statement’s sense, mandatory masks for the staff affect customer experience negatively as well. Based on my limited knowledge, I would recommend devising a way for staff members to be ‘mask-less’ if they can ensure their safety in other ways, such as glass barriers between customers and employees. Lastly, the general shift towards a higher degree of control and strictness of COVID-19 negatively affects the passengers, which manifests in a customer experience being more anxiety-based rather than relaxed. Thus, most COVID-19 changes were negative regarding customers’ experience.
Understanding the Meaning: Evaluation
The negative elements brought by the COVID-19 pandemic mean that such an unprecedented event needs to be countered by novel methods of enhancing the flight experience. Customers’ journeys should not adhere to the same old protocols and procedures with a new set of restrictive measures imposed. Although they are done for the customers’ and employees’ safety, there need to be ways to enhance their journeys without violating the newly implemented rules. In other words, the given reflection changed how I understand the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The observations and reflections significantly change the way I think or understand the customer experience. I realize that any change needs to be accompanied by additional measures to ensure that one party does not suffer the consequences more than the other. For example, the loss of comfort and interaction in a customer’s flying journey requires the integration of compensatory perks or add-ons. In other words, holistic approaches need to be incorporated, where a set of restrictions on one area is mitigated by enhancements in other areas of experience (Sun et al., 2021). Merely increasing restrictions without such countermeasures will not restore customers’ confidence to fly again.
Applying the New Learning: Plan
If I were a person in a position of power or authority within an airport, I would consider starting with smaller but noticeable changes without altering or abandoning the COVID-19-related restrictions. In other words, masks and social distancing measures will still be kept intact. My plan would involve increasing the comfort for the customer to enhance their flight experience and satisfaction. Firstly, since the number of customers decreased either due to supply or demand, it is important to bring more efficiency in terms of time spent by the customer moving through different stages of the flight journey. For instance, I can apply my knowledge in quickening the checking and boarding procedures. Secondly, the COVID-19 restrictions do not prohibit having more staff members, which is why additional airport employees can be hired to increase the use of self-checking machines for people who do not know how to operate them. Thirdly, I plan to change the seats in waiting areas by making them more comfortable and functional. For example, replacing such seats with fully or partly inclining ones can be highly useful to help people relax and enhance their customer experience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the customers’ flying experience and their confidence in using such services. The newly imposed restrictive measures require some compensatory countermeasures without causing conflict between them, where mandatory masks’ discomfort is mitigated by quicker checking or boarding procedures. The newly gained insights and understandings from the given reflective learning allowed me to identify how customer experience can be enhanced within the existing framework.
Italy is known as one of the countries that have been most seriously threatened by COVID-19. This is apparently among the main reasons why it is currently trying to return back to normal as soon as possible, notwithstanding the fact that the pandemic is not over yet. In particular, Italians are focused on the recovery of the cultural sector, which is especially topical with a consideration of the recent findings.
Several days ago, it became possible again to visit theaters, cinemas, and museums in most regions of the country. According to the Minister of Culture, art will contribute substantially to the overall mood of the population. Although observing a performance or doing an exhibition still presupposes booking tickets in advance and a limited access, there will be a chance for something new. Thus, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence offers fourteen new rooms with 129 works the guests have not seen before. By means of innovations, the Minister expects to attract both old and new visitors so that the entire sector can solve the crisis sooner.
Another museum, Turin’s Castello di Rivoli, has joined the Europe-wide campaign, within which cultural institutions also host vaccination centers. While being inoculated, the visitors can admire the ornamental pattern on the walls by a Swiss painter named Claudia Comte, along with the soundscape by the composer Egon Elliut. The idea of the two artists lied in designing an environment that would soothe the recipients before and after the vaccination. The director of Castello di Rivoli highlights that art is an essential factor of human well-being. It heals the soul, while the medication heals the body; therefore, a combination of the two is apparently an effective health care strategy.
Several other museums in Italy also participate in the campaign, but even the ones that do not have something to impress their visitors with. Notably, the Capitoline Museums, the main municipal museum in Rome, have finally regained the finger of the colossal statue of Emperor Constantine that had been missing for around five thousand years. It was found in Paris’s Louvre Museum and reattached to the giant bronze hand, which event was actually coincident with the 550th anniversary of the Capitoline Museums. In addition to the hand, the exposition includes the head and the globe the hand used to hold, as no other fragments of the statue have ever been discovered.
The finger is not the only recent finding to attract those who are interested in culture as well as in history. From the Guattari Cave situated on the coast between Rome and Naples, the remains of nine Neanderthals were excavated. The Culture Minister proclaims that, together with the two previously found individuals, they make the cave one of the biggest early man sites in the world. This fact can make the investigators re-imagine the peopling of Italy and the development of society in it since the Neanderthals are known as the first completely biosocial species.
To summarize, Italy is apparently recovering from the pandemic-related crisis, due to which the primary focus is currently on cultural life. The sector-specific institutions, including museums, finally opened their doors and are planning to attract visitors with a wide variety of new artifacts. In addition, one of the museums is now combined with a vaccination center, which allows for improving physical and mental well-being of the population in parallel.
The article “What’s new in the Caribbean for 2022” written by Suri (2020) describes the revitalization of the Caribbean islands after the pandemic of COVID-19. Specifically, the author mentions that the infrastructure in the region is undergoing serious renovations and advancements to attract an even bigger number of visitors when the situation grows more stable. In 2020, the Caribbean travel industry experienced a devastating downturn, but in 2021, a substantial share of international travelers chose the region as their destination. The author specifies that Americans are not an exception; the reasons are the proximity of the islands and their relatively successful campaign against the pandemic.
To delve deeper into the situation with the tourism advancements of the Caribbean, Suri provides specific data. According to the author, many visitors, primarily people from the U.S., were driven to the Caribbean as a pandemic travel destination because of its accessibility and reasonably successful reputation in managing Covid-19 (Suri, 2021). Though incoming visitations were severely impacted in 2020, the number of foreign tourists in 2021 was significantly more significant, at least for a selection of islands (Suri, 2021). 14 of the 26 Caribbean Tourism Organization participating nations reported a substantial increase in international travelers in 2021.
Considering the above, the region seeks to turn new visitors into regular to overcome the quarantine-related economic recession as soon as possible. This requires a maximal renovation of the resorts so that they can remain sufficiently competitive. Therefore, the most popular and influential islands are investing outstandingly large sums in their development. The latter involves not solely constructing and renovating touristic objects, such as hotels or beaches, but also essential advancements in other spheres. Among those is energy, where the Caribbean islands seek to reach complete self-sufficiency, transport, the supply of potable water, and others.
To complete its goal, the region has to increase its capacity substantially, which means the ability to house more people than possible at the current stage. This requires additional dwellings, air seats, and attractions to entertain the guests. In addition, the existing visa policies need reconsidering to enable visitors to spend long-lasting vacations in the region with no worries about bureaucratic issues. Furthermore, some islands are planning to allow foreigners to work without any special documents, which may add to their willingness to stay in the region. Certain communities find creative solutions to attract as many people as possible, among which is a cruise to Bermuda with no connection to other islands.
To provide factual information and illuminate ongoing changes, Suri provides examples of developers like John Alexander. He intends to build more accommodations and will open the area’s first glamping destination, Little Bay Eco Resort, on 54 acres, with tented rooms comparable to another luxurious glamping resort, Paws Up Montana (Suri, 2021). Another example is shown through St. Lucia’s attitude, in 2021 received 20,000 extra flight seats from the U.S., and the development of new facilities was already ongoing (Suri, 2021). According to the island’s head of state, Evelyn Wever-Croes, Aruba’s number of tourists began to recover in July 2021 (Suri, 2021). The region now intends to invest around $153 million in 2022 and $264 million in 2023 to increase accommodations.
It is worth noting, however, that the tourist industry in the Caribbean remains underdeveloped and dramatically limited in scope. Notably, the population of the Americas continues to make the majority of the visitors, while people from Europe, Asia, and Australia give their preference to the region quite rarely. While people from some countries were afraid of the quarantine upon arrival and were not keen on traveling, few countries maintained the tourism levels. Nevertheless, according to the material provided by Suri, the people of the Caribbean hope to make major advancements in further years.
Another nuance is that not all of the islands are experiencing an uplift in tourism. Some of them are difficult to reach, and some others were bound to close their borders completely to interfere with the spread of the virus. The former need to focus on their transport infrastructure to allow for a stable flow of tourists, which involves constructing large and technically advanced airports as well as opening more flights. Regarding the latter, their interest in attracting foreign visitors currently is especially deep because they seek to outcompete the islands that earned loyalty during the pandemic due to their availability.
All of the above determines the quite intensive rivalry among the Caribbean islands, all of which seek to form and extend their bases of loyal customers. In one respect, this requires outstanding investments, which may become a burden on the local economies. On the contrary, the industry of tourism can be a substantial source of income that will be able to help the region overcome the pandemic-driven crisis rapidly. Therefore, the islands are facing the challenge of designing the optimal investment policies as well as finding the solutions to attract maximally possible amounts of tourists.
Within the course of social sciences, the article under review can serve as an illustration of several essential concepts. The first of these is mass tourism; the social conceptualization of this practice rests, primarily, on analyzing the reasons why people decide to travel (Butcher, 2020). In particular, one of the most frequent among those is the growing ability of the population to realize their desires. The latter, in turn, is a quite reliable marker of the recent tendencies in several other spheres of social life.
Thus, technical progress, the development of infrastructure, unprecedented mobility, and the ever-growing respect towards privacy give modern people outstanding personal freedom. Subsequently, they acquire additional room for self-actualization, satisfying their taste for adventure, escapism, and others. Moreover, with the ability to visit another country, tourists can expose themselves to local culture, values, and beliefs, which also plays a significant role in their desire to travel. All of those encourage people to visit exotic and frequently mysterious locations, which the Caribbean islands are for many.
The factors mentioned in the previous paragraph are possible to label the umbrella term of social change. As guessable from the name, it stands for the transformations that occur in a certain society under the influence of particular factors. In the given case, the central issue is the shift in people’s travel preferences. Notably, the criteria on which tourists rely when choosing a destination changed noticeably in comparison with the pre-pandemic period (Suri, 2022). This shows how the internal factors that determine an individual’s decisions appear in response to their external equivalents. The pandemic made people change their priorities, which, in turn, gave birth to new trends, such as choosing nearby destinations to visit (ibid.). This, in addition, shows how closely various spheres are intertwined and, consequently, how probable they are to influence each other.
Health is another essential concept of social science that the example of the Caribbean can illustrate. In particular, the point where social and medical studies overlap is the factors of social origin that can influence public health; behavior during a pandemic belongs to those. The author mentions the relatively good ability of the region under review to combat the infection among the factors that encouraged more Americans to visit it (Suri, 2022). In addition, people began to avoid traveling to remote locations; the most probable reason for this is minimizing unnecessary contact, but this is not the only point. Thus, it is possible to guess that the proximity of the destination provides more psychological comfort than a traveler would have in a remote place. If this assumption corresponds to reality, it may be a textbook example of a situation where the origin of health behavior is not exclusively physiology-based.
Finally, management also is an essential notion social science operates; this sphere of knowledge considers not solely the psychological peculiarities of particular individuals but also the principles of interaction in society. In the given article, the author describes the measures that the authorities of the Caribbean islands are taking to attract more tourists to the destinations. This requires good managerial skills because it is critical to design well-balanced strategies and policies that would allow for the most appropriate allocation of the available resources. The latter, in turn, calls for understanding the driving forces of consumer behavior, social change, and other factors that may determine decisions in management. Social science, meanwhile, can provide a theoretical framework for a detailed examination of the issue.
The relatedness of the article to the problems that are observable in the modern world is direct to the maximal possible degree; actually, it describes one of those. The pandemic of COVID-19 and the quarantine that accompanies it caused a quite serious crisis around the globe. Primarily, infectious diseases, notwithstanding the medical as well as technological progress, remain on the list of the most frequent causes of death even in developed countries (Shang et al., 2021). The low level of tourist flow is justified by people’s desire to reduce the spread of the disease.
In the course of globalization, the threat that they bear becomes even more considerable because the speed with which viruses and bacteria spread grows as well. The article illustrates the seriousness of the problem; thus, the author mentions that some of the Caribbean, such as Trinidad and the Cayman Islands, were bound to close their borders completely (Suri, 2022). In one respect, this helped the region control the epidemiological situation relatively successfully, but on the contrary, the economic consequences were devastating.
The latter is another problem that the world is experiencing due to the pandemic. Notably, it caused a global economic downturn; a range of countries is still recovering from it. Tourism was among the most sufficiently affected industries, for which two most apparent reasons are possible to identify. The first is the need for maximal isolation, which made most people avoid long journeys. In addition, many lost their jobs and, consequently, the ability to travel. The combination of these factors and, presumably, the underdeveloped touristic infrastructure of the Caribbean led to the situation where most foreign visitors are from the Americas.
The given work aroused a feeling of obligation in me. For example, the Caribbean includes developing countries that are dependent on tourism. As a result, as an individual who resides relatively close to this location, I feel there is a need to support their economy. The given material led many entrepreneurs to open new facilities and recreational areas to contribute to the development of the area and make a profit. Trips to the Caribbean islands might be even cheaper than some destinations in North America. The entrepreneurial ideas of John Alexander, in my opinion, can help the islands recover from the crisis faster if travelers start to visit the destinations again. This way, the illumination of the topic in the article by Suri made the thought of vacationing in the Caribbean even more enticing.
At the same time, the article also made me support those who refuse to travel at this time. While refusal to travel causes global expenditures to tourist businesses, the approach of people who do not desire to spread the virus had experienced a layoff or fear isolation is quite understandable. Meanwhile, I agree to support the attitude of tourists described in the article. For example, while some people refused to travel to the Caribbean islands, it was said that they remained loyal to their favorite destination and would not want to go anywhere else.
Nevertheless, the most crucial topic of the article is not just the islands as an enticing destination, but a destructive manner of Covid-19. The discussed pandemic had a negative impact not only on the overall global economy but hit developing countries the hardest. The author allowed the readers to understand the pandemic’s tremendous effect on the countries and nations that are dependent on tourism. With the situation in the Caribbean, many businesses and islands were preparing for tourism flow and making advancements in this field. However, the refusal of tourists to visit the local destinations also contributed to the further escalation of local economies due to the inability to maintain the infrastructure.
According to multiple pieces of research, the Caribbean islands’ communities struggle with many issues, such as crime, poverty, and migration. Some of the problems such nations confront are related to their remote island characteristics (Wilson et al., 2019). These are thought to contribute to socioeconomic instabilities, particularly in the face of more robust economies and the lack of a fair playing field in the international market (Wilson et al., 2019). Therefore, in the face of such global problems as pandemics, it is evident that communities will experience even more significant exposure to the issues mentioned above. This makes the article especially helpful in bringing attention to these communities and their challenges.
Thus, the article changed my perception of tourism loyalty, the pandemic’s impact, and the challenges of maintaining the tourism infrastructure. With the help of the article, I realized several points which did not seem too apparent to me before this moment. For example, while it seemed natural that people travel to fulfill their desires, in the face of the pandemic, numerous travelers refused to go abroad, fearing isolation or a more extensive pandemic outbreak. Moreover, I realized how much the economies of many countries are dependent on the levels of tourist flow. Many already struggling nations had to meet the challenge of being unable to sustain or develop many spheres.
In conclusion, it is necessary to recapitulate the essence of the article, its relation to modern-day problems, and the feelings the article aroused. The article “What’s new in the Caribbean for 2022,” written by Suri, illuminates the influence of Covid-19 on the Caribbean islands’ economy and tourism infrastructure. While before the pandemic, many destinations in the Caribbean experienced growth and advancements in the face of tourist inflow, the time of the pandemic, many people refused to go abroad. As a result, to attract even more visitors, local business owners and government officials have to find ways to develop the infrastructure further. This included the construction of new buildings and advancements in supply and transportation systems.
The article is quite relatable and sheds light on the tourism issue that many countries undergo due to the Covid outbreak. What is more, the article written by Suri made me think of the community challenges, personal contributions to foreign economies, and support of entrepreneurial ideas that can lead to the successful attraction of tourists, such as the idea of John Alexander. While local communities struggle with crime, poverty, and migration exacerbated by the pandemic, innovative ideas, and significant investments can help the Caribbean’s economy rehabilitate faster. Also, though I understand the approaches of travelers to refuse to go abroad for fear of isolation, or other reasons, I agree with many tourists who remain loyal to the Caribbean islands.
References
Butcher, J. (2020). Constructing mass tourism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(6), 898-915. Web.
Shang, Yu., Li, H., & Zhang, R. (2021). Effects of pandemic outbreak on economies: Evidence from business history context. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, article 632043. Web.
Suri, C. (2020) What’s new in the Caribbean for 2022. The New-York Times. Web.
Wilson, S., Nakhid, C., Fernandez-Santana, A., & Nakhid-Chatoor, M. (2019). An interrogation of research on Caribbean social issues: Establishing the need for an indigenous Caribbean research approach. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 15(1), 3-12. Web.
I interviewed my friend, Ms. Sophia Johnson, who works at Hotel Emma in San Antonio, Texas. She explained that she had never witnessed such an economic tragedy in her ten-year tenure as a public area attendant in the hotel industry. Based on her account, the hotel was booming before the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic because the occupancy rate stood at 81.6%. On weekends, Hotel Emma would have all its 146 rooms fully booked. Sophia narrated that they had little time to rest due to the clients’ increased demand for the services. Indeed, the hotel management thought of increasing the bed capacity to accommodate more visitors. Bondarenko and Xingyi (2021) agree with Sophia that Hotel Emma is one of the luxury hotels rated five stars in San Antonio. However, the COVID-19 pandemic hurt the hotel operations, lessening the occupancy level to less than 30% after implementing the containment measures. Essentially, the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the hospitality sector in the United States, resulting in an unprecedented decline in the number of visitors to Hotel Emma, thus considerably reducing its revenues.
Before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hotel Emma utilized a flatarchy organizational structure to strengthen its culture. According to González-Rodríguez et al. (2019), a flatarchy arrangement flattens the chain of command and the hierarchy to give workers the autonomy in completing their tasks. Sophia highlighted that the hotel’s leadership, led by the president and other departmental managers, allowed employees to make independent decisions in their interactions with clients. Notwithstanding, they were expected to align with organizational culture and core values. On asking Sophia about pre-pandemic goal, she explained that every activity was directed towards improving customer experience. The management often made result-oriented choices based on the consumers’ and employees’ feedback. According to Sophia, the market culture was indispensable in inspiring the six culinary monographs used to celebrate the Spanish heritage in 2018. Therefore, Hotel Emma focused on offering a unique customer experience to maintain its competitiveness in the hospitality industry.
Under the pandemic, Hotel Emma maintained its organizational structure and culture, although it changed the mode of operations due to reduced demand for hospitality services. Sophia emphasized that nearly every segment, including food and beverage, accommodation, and recreation, witnessed a drop in sales. Reflecting the situation in other luxury hotels in the United States, the revenues of Hotel Emma declined (Gursoy & Chi, 2020). Sophia noted that an executive order issued by the Governor of Texas relating to limiting business capacity and implementation of various containment measures brought the hotel’s operations to a standstill. Nevertheless, the management resolved not to close the hotel but rather diversify its operations. The hotel’s vice president announced the creation of a line of specialty products, which visitors and guests could order and enjoy in their traditional homes. As a result, Sophia and her colleagues started delivering these food products to locals and visitors in their households. They also shipped foodstuffs across the United States based on demand. This new business approach helped retain employees in the hotel and ensure they received their salaries and entitled benefits.
I also interrogated Sophia concerning her job and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected it. In response to my question, Sophia explained that her primary duty as a public area attendant was to clean hotel entrances, lobbies, lounges, and restrooms and assist guests with city and hotel information. She also delivered foodstuffs and other items to the hotel’s guest rooms and public places. Corresponding to Sophia’s description, Gursoy and Chi (2020) define a public area attendant as an employee who promotes the positive image of a hospitality brand to visitors. He or she must be friendly, responsible, pleasant, innovative, and honest to address guests’ requests swiftly and solve any possible problems prudently. Consequently, the role played by Sophia in the hotel was vital in enhancing customer experience and satisfaction.
Sophia’s responsibility in Hotel Emma aligns with the concept of sociological imagination established by Wright Mills. According to Garoutte (2018), Mills pinpoints a significant connection between personal challenges and public concerns. Personal troubles refer to private difficulties experienced within a person’s personality and the range of his or her relationship with others. Conversely, public or social issues represent processes and organizations beyond personal control, entrenched in society instead of an individual (Garoutte, 2018). For example, Sophia’s work determines customer satisfaction and influences the possibility of friends’ recommendations to the hotel. If Sophia decides to be rude to the guests and visitors, they may respond by rating the hotel negatively, thus creating a wrong impression from the social perspective. Sophia expressed her concern relating to how her duties were sensitive to the growth of the hotel’s customer base. Indeed, she told me that the vice president often referred to her as the core engine of the hotel’s success. Therefore, employees must understand the existence of a connection between the individual experiences and the greater society to avoid personal mistakes that may hurt their brands.
Capitalism governs and guides business operations of the American hospitality industry. According to Thelen (2019), capitalism advocates for a complete separation of the state and the economy. It is a political-economic model embedded in the doctrine of individual rights that acknowledges that people can adopt their unique lifestyles without infringing the freedom and rights of others. In my cross-examination with Sophia, she highlighted that capitalism had offered opportunities to women. In her view, the separation between business and states helps entrepreneurs develop and implement specific policies, which accommodate females. Agreeing with Sophia’s perspective, González-Rodríguez et al. (2019) argue that the capitalism model exposes workers to innovative ideas by integrating persons from different gender and racial backgrounds. She believes that capitalist strategies have helped facilitate globalization, eliminate racial discrimination, and enhance gender parity in the labor market. Undeniably, opportunities offered to females have enabled them to exhibit their skills, thus leading to the rise of gender capitalism that focuses on enhancing women’s access to factors of production and promoting workplace equity.
Sophia also believes that capitalism is a just system of building the economy. It nurtures a culture of competition and inspires workers to advance their skills. However, Sophia stressed that capitalism had also increased inequality due to a lack of corporate investment in career training and development. Corresponding to Thelen (2019), Sophia thinks that top executives in the hospitality industry worry about investing in training their employees because of the high possibility of losing them to their competitors. As a result, females and people from less privileged families who cannot afford to pay for their further studies fail to qualify for promotions. Sophia also explained that the primary objective of capitalism is to maximize revenue. She gave me a rational reason why she does not complain when she sees uneducated athletes receive millions in salary or rewards while a graduate gets low pay. Sophia enlightened me that the ideology of capitalism categorizes individuals into classes based on their contribution to revenue generation. Unlike graduates whose work yields low income, athletes raise substantial amounts through sales of tickets and sponsors, thus justifying their hefty pay.
Based on the insights gained from the reviewed studies and Sophia’s responses, various standard rules of living characterize the American society. For example, specific institutions and policies such as banks, Small Business Act, and the Companies Act affect the commercial obligations, employees’ rights, and business model. According to Thelen (2019), America is more of a male-dominated rather than feminist society. As Sophia argued in one of her responses, the capitalism model has promoted gender and racial inclusion and diversity in the workplace. Nevertheless, it has failed to address the issue of income inequality mainly due to the collision of political and economic elites to manipulate capitalist policies. American society continues to evolve, and it is projected that commercial activities in different industries will relate to human behavior. Significantly, social and economic structures will shape the future of American society in various spheres of life due to ever-changing lifestyles and consumption behaviors.
The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the hospitality industry in the United States and globally. The implementation of containment measures and closure of borders brought the hotel operations to a standstill. The management of Hotel Emma was compelled to start home deliveries to sustain its expenses during the pandemic. Sophia and her colleagues were lucky that their employer never closed the business. Her responses to the interview questions offered critical insights into her role as a public area attendant and the implication of capitalism in the hotel and other sectors. As a male-dominated society and capitalist economy, the United States significantly integrates Mills’ concept of sociological imagination. Individual actions have either positive or negative consequences at the public or social level. Thus, among other stakeholders within American society, employees need to reflect on their behaviors and activities to ensure they promote rational business and social ethics. Irrefutably, American society’s future depends on the social and economic structures because they will influence and define commercial approaches, business ethics, and lifestyles
Religious pilgrims remain a crucial factor in boosting and sustaining tourism in Saudi Arabia. In 2019, the Hajj revenue contributed to 7 percent of Saudi Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as Havrlant et al. (2020) report. Around two million pilgrims visit Mecca every year during the time of Dhu al-Hijjah to do Hajj. The Hajj, or pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, is a major accomplishment in Islam (Ross, 2021). In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID- 19 a global pandemic and issued various directives relating to the way of conduct to mitigate the transmission of the virus. Some of the instructions included social distancing, avoiding gatherings, and curfews. These directions affected the tourism sector across the globe as traveling was highly restricted and groups limited (Alanezi et al., 2020). As different nations restricted raveling, Saudi Arabia was not an exception. In 2020, the country limited the number of local and international pilgrims visiting Mecca to 60,000 from an earlier 2 million pilgrims who visit for Hajj (Alam, 2021). The study seeks to analyze the effect of COVID-19 on religious tourism in Saudi Arabia.
Purpose of the Study
The study will show how COVID-19 affected religious tourism in the country and give insight into the behavior change in Mecca after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. The research also aims at evaluating the existing remedies on how to deal with the pandemic to protect the Saudi Arabia tourism sector from its adverse effects. The study thereby aids in establishing knowledge on how the COVID- 19 pandemic has affected Islamic pilgrimage as a tourism activity in Saudi Arabia.
Research Gap
Different studies have been conducted analyzing different implications of the COVID- 19 on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Other studies offer findings relating to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global religious tourism. The majority of prior studies seeking to study the consequences of the pandemic on religious tourism have had to analyze the effect of the pandemic for the year 2019. The timing of this study is perfect as it allows a comprehensive analysis of the impact of COVID-19 from onset to duration, covering the best of 2020. Apart from adding literature on this topic, this study will further develop future research projects. The research will offer empirical research that dwells on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourist destinations.
Significance of the Research Problem
This study is critical as it aims to provide data on religious tourism in Saudi Arabia before and after the pandemic. Following the study’s objective, the research question is how COVID-19 affected religious tourism in Saudi Arabia. Before handling the research question, the paper first reviews the available literature. The study then employs a quantitative approach to gather primary data relating to some of the implications of the COVID-19 to religious tourism in Saudi Arabia.
Literature Review
Pathogen-Stress Theory
The research employs pathogen-stress theory to analyze the risk of travel and management of the situation due to uncertainty that comes up with the COVID-19 pandemic. The approach also enhances knowledge on human behaviors regarding societal issues during a pandemic. The pathogen-stress theory refers to findings and ideas explaining how human beings solve a particular problem relating to the spread of disease. The concept draws different effects of human action towards pathogens and how the actions shape people’s activities and resolve issues in society. The proposition indicates that increased human interaction implies heightened contact, increasing the threat of transmission from one person to another. The concept states that as people grow in an environment high on pathogens, they get less welcoming to visitors. The argument postulates that these people become less exploratory, have fewer curios, and lower their probability of infection (Rahman et al., 2021). The proposition explains how humans behave in times of a pathogen threat, thereby being a perfect example to explain the development of containment measures and other guidelines developed in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The Effect of COVID-19 on Tourism in Mecca
Different scholars have sought to determine how the COVID-19 has affected tourism. A report by two scholars indicates that as a result of the pandemic, tourism declined by over 45% (Mecca and Gedoz, 2020). The majority of the people were not allowed to travel outside the country hence affecting the tourism sector (Yezli and Khan, 2020). The scholars also reported the effects of the pandemic as causing the prevention of entry of people from other countries to the host country (Yasin et al., 2020). The COVID- 19 was reported to affect the annual pilgrimage in Mecca as the government restricted gatherings and entry into the holy city of Mecca (Hassounah et al., 2020). The monarchy also barred its bounds to international “umrah” pilgrims and tourists from at least 25 nations in late February 2020 (Ebrahim and Memish, 2020). These containment measures saw millions of Islamic pilgrims blocked from fulfilling one and the last pillar of Islam. This Study does not explicitly explain the implications of COVID-19 pandemic to religious tourism; it provides knowledge of restriction of gathering and mass entry in the city of Mecca.
Religious Tourism before and during COVID-19 pandemic
Before the spread of the COVID-19, religious tourism was reported as a significant sector earning host nations millions of revenues. A study by Verma and Sarangi (2019) indicates that an estimated 600 million tourists visited Europe and Asia for religious tourism before the pandemic. After the development of the pandemic, the researchers suggest that religious tourists were highly restricted, with the host nation obtaining only a fraction of the expected visitors (Al-Shaker et al., 2020). According to the literature, different countries have undertaken various initiatives to erase the adverse effects brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic (Awaji, 2020). The scholars indicate that the Saudi government, through the ministry of Hajj ad Umrah, has developed a 3D version of the Masjid Al-Haram Mosque to enable the tourists have an idea about the place and layout of the mosque. However, the findings of Usman et al. (2020) indicate that the method has not been able to shelf the tourism sector from the adverse effects of COVID-19. In addition, the study by Al-Shaker et al. (2020) is not reliable as it provides a generalized finding of some of the attributes to ensure religious tourist revisit the host nations again. The study does not analyze the performance of religious tourism in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Crises Management and Importance of Mecca to Muslims
Different researches have shown several ways in which Covid 19 has affected tourism. Mecca ans Gedoz (2020) note that tourism declined by over 45% because of the pandemic. According to the study, most people were not allowed to travel outside the country, hence affecting the tourism sector. Literature indicates that Mecca’s annual festival has been disrupted by the change COVID- 19 pandemic (Kamuti, 2021). The authors suggest that the Saudi government is working to revive the economy, but this will only happen after the epidemic is under control. The monarchy barred its borders to foreign “umrah” pilgrims and tourists from at least 25 nations in late February 2020 (Thompson, 2020). This measure significantly affected the nation’s tourism sector, particularly religious tourism. The COVID-19 pandemic halted all travel into and out of Saudi Arabia in March.
The study adequately highlights the impact and causal effect of COVID-19 pandemic in Mecca. It illustrates how directives such as social distance, sanitization, curfews, and public gatherings prevent religious tourists from visiting the city (Mubarak and Zin, 2020). However, the studies mentioned above have relied on published articles and media reports instead of peer-reviewed journals and research findings. Another limitation is that most of the studies are based on opinion papers instead of case studies. It implies that these studies do not offer solid evidence, thereby questioning the reliability of their findings.
Methodology
The procedure of data collection is necessary for the process of developing a comprehensive research proposal. This proposal employs the quantitative research technique, which necessitates the employment of different data collection procedures. The research method enables the researcher to analyze measurements or numerical data gathered from questionnaires, polls, or surveys. The technique allows faster collection of data from a considerable sample size. The reason is that the methodology employs random data collection techniques; it improves the reliability of the data as it minimizes biasness (Apuke, 2017). The research aims at deriving different conclusions from the data obtained from the sample population.
The research aims at using both closed and open-ended questionnaires to its target population, which includes professionals dealing with tourism in Saudi Arabia. Questionnaires will provide preliminary information of the situation and the exact details of how tourism has been affected (Thwaites Bee and Murdoch-Eaton, 2016). To obtain data from a broad target population outside the locality of this research, the Study will also employ online surveys. Online surveys provide researchers with an opportunity to increase their productivity due to their ability to save time (Evans and Mathur, 2018). Through online surveys, data is collected faster and assures efficiency when transferring the data to a spreadsheet or statistical software for further analysis. An example of an online survey platform that this research is likely to use is the SurveyMonkey online platform.
Reliability and Validity
Data validity and reliability refer to different techniques used to assess the quality of a given research. Data validity refers to the accuracy of the measure used within the research, while reliability refers to the consistency of the action (Noble and Smith, 2015). The study will achieve both the validity and reliability standards; data rectification will be employed. The process involves contacting tourist agencies in Saudi Arabia and obtaining data from the Saudi Ministry of Tourism. This technique consists of a combination of primary and secondary data used to produce the desired results (Rose and Johnson, 2020). The goal of this procedure is to ensure that the data is accurate and free of bias.
Population and Sample
The research aims at seeking data from the tourism sector in Mecca to understand the impact of the pandemic on the industry. The target population for this Study includes the professionals dealing with tourism in Saudi Arabia, Islamic pilgrims across the globe, and local traders in Mecca. The questionnaire will also target the native Muslims in various parts and ask a closed-ended question about whether they had any plans to visit Mecca in the year 2020. This technique will give the number of religious tourists who wanted to visit Mecca but were barred by the COVID-19 restrictions. The questionnaire will also target the people living near Mecca and find out how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their earnings emanating from religious pilgrims visiting Mecca.
The Study will employ a random sampling technique when selecting questionnaire respondents who include traders in the city of Mecca. In addition, a purposive sampling technique will be used when determining the respondents within the ministry of tourism who will be providing critical data on how the pandemic has impacted religious tourism in the nation. The method allows the researcher to choose a specific sample through a personal judgment on the respondents’ knowledge about the study topic and the study’s objectives (Campbell et al., 2020). On the online platform, the study will rely on random sampling to select the research respondents. The forum will target participants who do not live in Saudi Arabia to grasp tourists who visit Mecca for the Islamic pilgrimage.
Research Questions
The research questions for the Study include:
Did the COVID-19 pandemic affect visit to Mecca for the pilgrimage?
How did the business performance in terms of earnings in the year ending 2020?
How did the religious tourism sector perform in terms of revenue generated in the year ending 2020?
These questions will be asked to government officials within the ministry tourism, local traders in Mecca, and Muslims across the globe, except those in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire is expected to be understandable to the target population to ensure that the exact impact of COVID-19 on visitation of Mecca is quantitatively covered.
Pilot Study
Ethical Issues
The Study is expected to adhere to ethical standards developed to guide the research. The research will ensure that the information obtained from the respondents is kept confidential. The report shall be released under the consent of the respondent (Bunnik et al., 2020). The Study has also been analyzed to ensure that it does not harm the respondents while also paying attention to the respect of privacy and anonymity.
Budget.
This budget of the research proposal consists of the following and their estimated cost.
Activities in the project
Budget in USD
Visiting the town for survey
$ 4000
Writing and printing of questionnaires
$ 200
Data analysis and presentation experts hiring
$ 2000
Data analysis software payments
$ 99
Traveling to give questionnaires
$ 400
Secondary data and internet use
$ 40
Stationery and equipment
$ 1200
Personnel and tour guides
$ 20
Total
$ 7959
Timeline for Completion of the Project.
Period
Task
Week One
Writing research proposal
Week two and three
Writing and reading literature review
Week two
Planning methods and write methods chapter
Week Four
Data collection
Week Five
Fieldwork
Week Five
Conferences
Week six
Data analysis
Week Six
Write results chapters
Week Seven
Write analysis chapter and methods chapter
Week Eight
Write discussion chapter
Week Nine
Write introduction and conclusion
Week ten
Major editing
Week Eleven
Final proofreading
Week Eleven
Submit
Conclusion
Religious tourism has greatly influenced Saudi Arabia to the extent the Saudi government has developed a ministry specially dedicated to the Umrah and Hajj. However, due to the spread of Covid -19, religious tourism is likely to experience a down surge. The prohibition on mass gatherings is expected to reduce the number of religious tourists visiting the region. Businesses who thrive during the Hajj and Imrah are likely to experience reduced earing while revenue streams from religious tourism are likely to decline (Parveen, 2020). The process of sourcing data from a government official is associated with heightened bureaucracy, which might delay the progress of the research. However, the research findings will be essential in determining how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected local businesses, the economy, and the Islamic pilgrimage.
Reference List
Alam, G.N., 2021. ‘The Impacts of Covid-19 to Saudi Arabia’s Economic Sector and Hajj Pilgrimage Policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’, Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education (TURCOMAT), 12(8), pp.463-472.
COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the operations in the hospitality and travel industry. To prevent the virus from spreading, governments stopped people from moving internationally and in their own countries. People need to be able to move freely from one place to another for hospitality, travel, and leisure activities to run effectively (Mehta et al., 2021). This helps students think more about the approach and examine learning, which assists them learn more. Formative feedback also assists learners in meeting their learning goals because it tells them how they are doing as they go through the process of learning. By formalizing the approach, educators can assist students in developing skills.
Cultural perspective is common in business studies because it helps explain how people behave and why they are different. For example, some cultural expectations are respecting other people’s opinions, listening more when in a conversation, and treating people well (Luthans & Doh, 2018). The next thing to think about is how important it is for people to help each other and work together to help them learn. Peer-to-peer learning is a way for students to work together to reach their educational goals. It enables learners to work through new concepts with others, especially those doing the same thing. It also gives them a chance to teach and be trained by one another.
The Impacts of COVID-19 On The Hospitality, Travel and Leisure
Hospitality is one of the industries most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is an industry consisting of restaurants, hotels, amusement parks, entertainment, other tourism-based services, and many more. When governments across the globe restricted the movement of people in and out of the country, the hospitality industry operations were halted (Mehta et al., 2021). For example, there was a significant drop in customers visiting the hotels, amusement parks and many others. I did not leave my country when the bans were introduced. Therefore, restrictions issued by officials lead to a decline in the number of customers visiting the hotels and revenues.
The travel industry is among the hardest-hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic led to a collapse of international travel. The authorities in my country introduced a series of measures to protect their citizens from the pandemic (Mehta et al., 2021). One of the measures that placed the travel industry at a standstill was the ban on international movement. According to the World Tourism Organization, the number of travelers dropped significantly when the travel bans were announced. The local travels were not enough for the airports because people were afraid of moving from one place to another. As a result, the travel industry, especially those relying on tourists, was adversely impacted.
COVID-19 pandemic did not spare leisure activities because people were advised to stay at home. Social distancing policies were introduced around the world to stop the spread of coronavirus disease in 2019 (Mehta et al., 2021). These measures have included temporary restrictions on large gatherings and the closure of public facilities, which have limited people’s ability to go on trips and give them more time to do things at home, like gardening and painting, instead. For example, when the authorities introduced social distance policies, I was one of the people affected. I was unable to visit the places that I used to visit previously.
The Use of Formative Feedback
Teachers use formative feedback to help learners focus more on approaching, organizing, and evaluating learning, which contribute to better learning outcomes. This is done in classrooms all the time in various ways, such as in written and spoken form (Ellegaard et al., 2018). Effective formative feedback should be able to close the gap between what the learners are doing and what they want to do. One principle is to close the gap between how well you do now and how well you want to do. It is about what teachers do after they give feedback to their students. Teachers develop ways to improve students’ learning through feedback and show them what they need to do to improve their performance.
In my view, formative feedback is the most important thing one can do to help and guide a child toward academic excellence. Students make mistakes before they are graded, which allows them to improve their work and get a better overall grade (Ellegaard et al., 2018). Students get formative feedback as they work on their work for the final summative exam. This makes sure that they have done everything they can to improve and improve their work. This is one of the best ways to teach, based on my opinion. It relieves students’ stress and makes them more aware and open to learning. It gives the student a better chance to think about and get help from the tutor when a problem with a certain topic comes up.
Formative feedback is important because it lets individuals figure out what’s different. In my view, it helps one to know how they did at learning and how they wanted to do at learning. For example, educators can see how well students understand a subject by having them ask questions in class and talking about what they are learning. Thus, teachers can help low-achieving students meet the requirements for their tests (Ellegaard et al., 2018). The increased motivation caused by formative feedback makes it easier for the learners to figure out what they do not know about learning. Because formative feedback is used, learners are given free advice and instructions for solving problems.
The Cultural and Behavioral Expectations
As business and management students, there are various cultural and behavioral expectations. The first expectation is to understand others based on their culture. People act in ways that are linked to their cultures (Luthans & Doh, 2018). As a result, it is important to know how coworkers act when one is in the workplace. Prospering in the workplace means setting up a workplace culture that includes other cultures and incorporating that culture into the workplace. It is important to know how people from different cultures act in the workplace. Culture shapes how people interact with each other, communicate, and understand the world around them in the work environment.
Business and management students are expected to behave professionally. Students are supposed to respect each other’s rights in and outside the school environment (Luthans & Doh, 2018). All students must follow these rules of professional behavior. For example, as a student, I am supposed to respect my colleagues by avoiding disruptive behavior such as participating in non-class-related operations during class sessions. Therefore, students are supposed to acquire appropriate behavior to foster teamwork and a positive relationship with other stakeholders.
The Importance of Peer-To-Peer Support
Peer-to-peer learning is a way for students to work together to reach their educational goals. It allows students to work together on new ideas and materials with the person who is also participating in the activity (Maccabe & Fonseca, 2021). The teacher encourages students to learn from each other. Peer-to-peer education also gives students the chance to teach and be taught, broadening their perspectives and making them more connected. Students need to learn from each other because they take part in the peer evaluation system for discussion assignments. Therefore, the grades that the students get from their peers also play a role in their overall grades.
People who use the e-learning platform should post their responses to reading assignments on the discussion board in the classroom. In my view, because their work is being looked at, the students who have their work looked at must also look at and give a grade to the work of their peers. The experience gives the students new ideas and knowledge about their peers, and it helps them improve their critical thinking skills (Maccabe & Fonseca, 2021). It also gives students the skills they need for their whole education and career, preparing them for a global society. Furthermore, peer-to-peer learning leads to developing the ability to listen respectfully and respond constructively.
Conclusion
The Covid-19 Pandemic had an effect on hospitality, travel, and leisure. As a result, the authorities introduce measures to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The formative feedback helps the students think about what they have learned. With formative feedback, teachers can help low-achieving students meet the requirements for the tests. The cultural point of view is common in business studies because it explains why people do well and why they do not. In business and management, all the different cultures should be considered. In addition, peer-to-peer learning helps students learn because it gives them new ideas and perspectives and helps them improve their critical thinking skills.
References
Ellegaard, M., Damsgaard, L., Bruun, J., & Johannsen, B. F. (2018). Patterns in the form of formative feedback and student response. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(5), 727-744. Web.
Luthans, F., & Doh, J. P. (2018). International management: Culture, strategy, and behavior. McGraw-Hill.
