The impacts of Covid-19 on the hospitality establishments in Yaounde-Cameroon

• Autor(a) principal: Mbu, Agbor Ntui Pascal
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/20368
• topic: Covid-19; Yaoundé; Impacto económico; Impacto social; Estabelecimentos turísticos e hoteleiros

The Covid-19 pandemic has incurred a substantial economic and social impact around the world with hospitality establishments suffering one of its biggest hits ever. This crisis led to over two million deaths over the past year. According to the United Nations World Tourism Barometer, after the 73% drop in international tourism recorded in 2020, demand for international travel remained scarce at the beginning of 2021. Novel information and facts continue to emerge, theoretical and conceptual models are evolving, and groundbreaking scientific discoveries are rewriting the scientific literature. However, the growing body of literature can only support policing decision-making if results, and knowledge, are transferred to decision-makers. Assessing the impact requires continually calculating the scale of the crisis and revising existing tourism crisis and public health management models. This research thus seeks to find out the economic and social impacts of Covid-19 on the hospitality establishments in Yaounde. Specific objectives are to investigate the economic and social impacts as well as identify mitigation measures for Covid-19 in the hospitality establishments in Yaounde. Using a quantitative approach, a structured questionnaire was administered to hotel owners. The results of the analysis show that the effects were primarily attributable to economic impact as hoteliers laid off personnel, lowered employee salaries and some workers placed on leaves in order to remain in business. Adequate check-in and hygienic management are required to enhance the cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of hotel rooms. The study recommends to management make some timely modifications to existing hotel policies such as flexible cancellation policies and ensuring strict hygiene policies are vital in mitigating the effect of the pandemic. Thus, taking some additional time for cleaning the entire hotel is essential in ensuring hygienically clean safety and a secure environment for guest stay. The findings of this study are limited to Yaounde therefore, the results cannot be generalized.