Hospitality Revised With COVID

How the hospitality industry has suffered and adapted for the better during COVID-19.

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Emma Harris

When will things go back to normal? What does “normal” even look like?

Throughout the last year with the COVID outbreak, many different things have been affected. One of the bigger issues COVID has caused is the hospitality industry failures. 

The hospitality industry is focused on attracting people, entertaining, etc… and these things usually take place in hotels, cruise ships, theme parks, restaurants, etc… all of these require a large volume of people. However, with the COVID outbreak, this industry is having a more difficult time catching and keeping business up. Cruise ships have closed, many people have stopped traveling, people stop going to restaurants as frequently (if at all), and theme parks have closed down during this time. 

This has greatly affected the hospitality industry because, while other areas of business can change and adapt to the outbreak, it thrives off of large numbers of people. This is the exact opposite of what is needed to keep people safe during the pandemic, meaning the hospitality industry is struggling to adapt and keep business up.

In the long run, many things will be permanently affected. Some theme parks may not reopen, leaving people who previously worked there without a job. Cruise ships stopped sailing, hotels closed down or had a very minimal number of people able to stay, and who knows what more will be affected. 

While there is a major negative impact on the hospitality industry due to COVID, there are also some positive changes that have helped it. For example, at hotels, they now have their own app services. This includes virtual check in to limit contact with people, ordering room service/meals, etc. This could actually help the industry, and if it weren’t for COVID we probably would not have these positive changes right now. 

This is true for many different businesses, including restaurants with curbside pickup, and many stores or delivery services including features where you order your groceries or needs online, and it is delivered to your doorstep or picked up curbside. This also is a positive thing that has been helpful to many because it limits contact with people and gives more flexibility to people regardless of COVID. Many of these features would not be available if it weren’t for COVID, and a lot of people are getting comfortable with being able to do most of their shopping or day to day errands from the comfort of their own homes.

In short, while the hospitality industry has suffered large and damaging consequences because of COVID, they have also developed new systems that might be beneficial to carry on even after the pandemic is over.