With Coronavirus cases soaring across the world, travelers all over the world were grounded. Elizabeth Becker, the author of The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism, highlights that the pandemic “decimated” the $8 trillion international travel industry overnight. “Those essential pillars of 21st-century international travel- open borders, open destinations, and visa-free travel, will not return in the short term or even long term,” she argues (Assaf, 2021).
What does that refer to the future of travel? Despite the turbulence, experts see blue skies. Bruce Moon Tip, the author of unlearning: The Year the Earth Stood Still and the founder of travel company G Adventures, argues not only will we travel again, but we will also do better. “I still think travel can be the largest distributor of wealth the world has ever seen, “he argues,” This pause gives us the gift of time to consider how we can travel more cautiously.”
The pandemic sent a shockwave through Canada’s foodservice industry, devastatingly impacting the entire hospitality landscape. The industry is seeing signs of positive change.
Restaurant Canada released the 2021 Foodservice Facts shows that come 2022, the industry to not only rebound but grow more than initially expected, as consumers are expressing a willingness to go back to restaurant dining (Banjamin, 2020).
Canada’s most trusted hospitality industry research and insights guide, Foodservice Facts, is an annual report presenting the latest foodservice statistics and forecasts, along with a detailed analysis of how they will affect foodservice operators. The yearly authoritative research report is an essential tool for hospitality operators and chains to invest, plan and forecast their activities for the year ahead. Around April 2020, Canada’s hospitality industry experienced its lowest level of sales in over two decades. While sales were expected to rise in 2021, the third pandemic wave caused another shutdown, eliminating in-person dining affecting restaurants, hotels, motel operators, and suppliers across Canada (Brock, 2020).
However, the industry has been resilient, innovating, embracing new technologies, and exploring new revenue streams despite setbacks and challenges. It will require some time to get back to normal, but expectations for 2022 indicate an excellent return to pre-pandemic numbers.
As of September 2021, up to 70% of Canadians are fully vaccinated. Due to high vaccination rates, annual commercial foodservice sales are expected to rise to $63.9 billion, a lot higher than the previous prediction of $61.1 billion. But, the industry is tempering optimism, with vaccine passports coming into effect alongside the fourth wave of infection. Furthermore, the projection of 2022 looks even more promising, as overall hospitality sales are expected to increase to nearly $80 billion, which is 3.8% higher than pre-pandemic levels. “While the economic outlook has improved significantly, Restaurants Canada stays cautious when it comes to the timing of the recovery,” says Chris Elliots, Senior Economist at Restaurants Canada, said
“We see the hospitality sector like a puzzle, trying to discover what piece fits where and discover how to fill in any holes and gaps in the industry. While our patios may be filling up, and we can discover that small pinhole of light at the end of the tunnel, it’s not the time to fall and relax into old habits. We have overcome the storm, and now it’s time to learn from it. It’s time to cautiously, yet optimistically, complete the puzzle.” (Kock, 2021)
Covid 19 brought about new obstacles and hardships for the entire industry across Canada. Some of the most significant difficulties to overcome due to the pandemic include labor shortages, higher food costs, and higher debts. Hundreds of thousands of staff across the restaurant industry have been laid off due to restaurant shutdowns, and more than 12,000 hospitality establishments have been permanently closing their doors since the start of the pandemic. Labor shortages, already an industry-wide issue pre-pandemic, will continue as the hospitality sector begin to recover and open back up. Workers have had to search for other employment opportunities in other industries after losing their jobs in hospitality. The pandemic is forcing the industry to evaluate how they hire, pay, and retain their employees, especially as restaurant owners are struggling to sill their workforce- only 39% of restaurant operators expect to return pre-pandemic staffing levels in staffing levels in 2022, and 20% hoping to return in 2023. The pandemic also brought up price hikes in the foodservice industry and led restaurants to accumulate mounds of debt. Operational costs, food and menu prices, and labor costs will continue to increase as the industry heads into the final quarter of 2021 and 2022. Many restaurants are operating at a loss due to government shutdowns, and their debts seem to continue to rise as costs rise. 47% of foodservice operators argued that they would increase their menu price by 4% over the next 12 months. According to the 2021 survey, 81% of independent restaurants had taken on new debt due to the pandemic. Six out of 10 table service restaurants are operating at a loss as of July 2021 (Eggleston, 2021).
As the industry recovers from the pandemic, paying off debt and lowering operating costs remain the top two priorities among the hospitality business. Despite the many adverse effects of pandemics, not all industry changes are considered harmful. COVID 19 allowed restaurants to step back and truly focus on their businesses, seeing what works and what does not and finding new ways to adapt to challenges brought about by the pandemic. The evaluation of their companies allowed them to focus on creating the best experience for customers when in-person dining is restarted, something that customers are very eager to return.
Customers are craving the opportunity to go back to table-service restaurants and in-person dining to experience the moments and memories they could have pre-pandemic. 94% of Canadians claim that restaurants are an essential part of their communities and want to continue supporting customers. They said takeout and delivery would continue to be offered by restaurants, especially those that had to pivot quickly to provide the service during the pandemic to meet new needs. But a significant number of customers have shared that they will start to order delivery and takeout less once the pandemic subsides. The desire to get together and socialize starts to rise (Reneud, 2020).
Most industries are more desperate to return in-person dining than others. Trends show delivery rates will stay the same post-pandemic as during the pandemic. But, differences in delivery can be seen across age groups:
About 50% of 18-34 years old surveyed will order delivery less post-pandemic than during the pandemic, being the most wanted group to return to in-person dining.
Age 35-54 years old were similarly split, with about the same percentage of people preferring to order less after the pandemic than those who collect about the exact delivery amount as during the pandemic. “It is clear Canadians want to return to the way things before Coronavirus hit, and in-person and indoor dining at restaurants are part of this transition to post-pandemic life,” added Todd Barclay, President of Hospitality Canada. “We believe the value that restaurants bring to Canadians and their society, and we should be prepared to welcome them back with hospitality face. Restaurants Canada is co-operating with all levels of government to help the industry transition from survival to revival to welcome Canadian diners back with open arms.
Overall, more than 89% of Canadians are looking forward to going out to a restaurant with friends and family once the pandemic ends. With growing vaccination rates, Canadians feel more comfortable returning to in-person dining, and restaurants should continue to implement measures to increase the customer experience and make them feel comfortable.
Travelers can make a significant change in the rural area that were already struggling economically before the COVID 19. Caz Makepeace of Y Travel Blog argues she and her family have always traveled slowed to lesser-known areas, “rather than through destination.” Now, she is supporting these places by patronizing local businesses and donating to nonprofits.
Kate Newman of Travel for Difference recommends travelers concentrate on the “global south” or developing countries that rely on tourism. “We need to spread out our locations to avoid massive tourism and concentrate on the places that need it,” she says. “Seeing so many societies suffer during COVID-19 has brought to light.” (Banjamin, 2020)
High-mileage travelers are adding more thought to their bucket lists. “COVID-19 has provided me an opportunity to believe how and why I travel,” says Erick Prince of The Minority Nomad. “It’s allowed me to explore travel projects for passion instead of a paycheck.” Rather than concentrating on paid gigs, the blogger, who lives in Thailand, said he would be embarking on a self-funded project to discover off-the-beaten-track provinces in his adopted country.
For many tourists, road trips may be the only possible option for travel at the moment, and frequent fliers like Gabby Beckford of Packs Light are revving up. Driving across the state can be just as exciting as flying across borders; it is about the mindset. “Road-tripping has shown me that the core of travel- curiosity, exposure to newness, and wonder is a perspective, not a destination,” she says.
Conde Nast Traveller sustainability editor Juliet Kinsman predicted booking travel through agents and operators, sharing their invaluable knowledge and industry connections. “I think what 2020 has shown and understood us is the expertise and financial protection of booking through a travel agent often outweighs the amount you pay in commission,” she says. Furthermore, Juliet wants consumers to look to agents who specialize in the environment. “Those who care about where they take their customers can intuitively cut through greenwash and ensure every link in the supply chain is an honorable one,” she says.
When assessing the spread of the COVID 19, it is essential to consider its lethality and level of contagion and the spatial and social conditions enabling its movement. The movement of viruses and other pathogens has not escaped the attention of motilities researchers, and COVID-19 emerged when yearly international tourist arrivals reached up to 1.5 billion. While tourism is one of many reasons to travel, it is worth discovering the role of hospitality in viral transmission, given the extent of global tourism at the outbreak. The tourism and food service industry has been one of the most badly impacted by the virus, but it is also responsible for its propagation. Some of the countries worst hit are major tourist destinations such as Spain, Japan, and Italy. At the same time, the flow of international tourists from China also helped increase the spread of the virus before travel restrictions were started. Cruise ships rapidly became significant locations of contagion, with names such as the Ruby Princess, Westerdam, and the World Dream now synonymous with COVID- 19. Ski resorts, such as Aspen and Ischgl, were also sites of large transmission. Abroad cruise ships and airplanes, the virus became a tourist’ travel companion’, and by mid-March 2020, the virus had already been spread in 146 countries due in large part to the magnitude of global aero-mobility (Kirk, 2021).
As some tourism researchers have already discussed, the pandemic allows the tourism industry to address its environmental impacts. Examples might include transiting to carbon neutrality or considering the climate change implication of tourism’s growth model. Such recommendations are welcome, but they often fail to consider the challenges of reducing tourism’s carbon footprint when international tourism has become essential to many people’s social lives. Global tourism is one of the easiest ways for family and friends to spend quality time together. As the difficulty to travel enforced by COVID 19 has demonstrated, not only being able to travel is conceivably distressing for loved ones living apart (Nelson, 2018).
Mobility locates tourism among other travel methods comprising commuters’ daily lives, such as commuting and business travel. Therefore, it can inform scholars and policymakers’ efforts to drop tourism’s environmental impacts by considering how tourism interacts with other social life and consumption spheres. The capacity of mobilities believed to shift between scales allows experts simultaneously to acknowledge the massive carbon footprint of tourism at the international level and how this is affected by the social lives of solo tourists compelled to visit relatives in far-flung locations.
A mobilities lens can uncover the values, cultural factors, and social obligations maintaining carbon-intensive travel, helping scholars and policymakers to recognize further that barriers to low carbon tourist’s mobilities often have a social basis as well as a technological one. It is not to say that tourism researchers have failed to grasp the significance of mobility to transform parts of the tourism industry. For instance, Renaud (2020) argued that the cruise tourism industry should adopt a ‘local mobility model in which destinations prohibit large cruise ships but exert control over a fleet of smaller vessels.
The ability of tourism to act as vectors of COVID 19 will differ depending on the particular tourist mobilities in question. Some hiking, camping, and road-tripping can afford long periods of relative social isolation, reducing the chances of viral transmission. The ‘travel bubble’ is a notable response by governments attempting to maintain tourist activity despite COVID 19. The Baltic travel bubble set between Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia allow all citizens and residents to travel freely across the three countries. At the same time, outsiders are forced to self-isolate for 14 days. The travel bubble constrains international mobility but increases locally-based tourist flows with implications for businesses, residents’ lifestyles, local traffic, carbon emissions, and tourism geographies (Zenker 2020).
There are 1.5 billion tourists are traveling internationally every year is an effective way to spread a virus. It is not a simple idea that tourists have been the only vectors. Conference attendees and ex-pats, among others, were also responsible. Mobilities theory gives the conceptual resources to help scholars and policymakers respond to the tourism-related challenges presented by COVID 19. Mobilities perspectives reveal how the social lives of tourists, their viral travel companions, and tourist mobility practices combine to produce what we recognize as contemporary tourism (Steve, 2020).
Mobilities theory indicates how tourism is entwined with the political ramification of COVID 19 and offers some considerations for those seeking to sue the pandemic as a chance to achieve low carbon forms of tourism. A multi-scalar approach mindful of tourism implications would guide experts and policymakers to understand the viral mobilities of COVID 19 and future viruses. For long as travel starts to be a highly valued activity, tourist mobilities will remain central to environmental and political issues, as well as to the movements of deadly viruses (Steve, 2020).
The challenge of globalization, competitive markets, technological developments, and environmental disasters, including pandemics such as COVID 19, threaten the business’s survival. Statistically, most firms do not survive long term, and family firms perish before the second generation. Only 30% of the family firms survive into the second generation, and only 3% survive beyond the third generation. Business survival is the most significant challenge facing most firms globally, particularly within the current context of COVID 19. Business longevity is also a topical subject in the global hospitality industry which is notoriously dynamic, volatile, and competitive. It has been estimated that 60% of all new hospitality businesses fail in their first 18 months of operation. The current COVID 19 pandemic can exacerbate the pressures on a challenging business environment for the hospitality business (Hemmington, 2021).
Finally, we can see the hope for the North American hospitality industry as it claws it is way back from the disaster of 2020’s pandemic-driven shutdown. That does not mean things are back to normal, or even “new normal.” But the industry is rebounding to an improved future state that is improved from last year. One roadblock to the hospitality industry’s comeback is its difficulty in getting or staying insured. When the sector’s resilience has never been more tested, how healthy operators anticipate, are aware of, manage, and mitigate risk, mainly the unknown, is a critical challenge. The insurance market is the hardest in 20 years, marking risk costly to cover as insurance availability has shrunk (UNWTO, 2020).
There is a tremendous demand for tourism and dining across North America. Business people are preparing to shelve Zoom and face-to-face business meetings again. Tourism continues to pick up with summer. A complete recovery will require the comeback of the lodging industry’s big profit center of business travel- which some believe will not happen until 2025 (Eggleston, 2021).
In the interim, many operators used the pandemic shutdown to make investments, notably in technology and personalized service features that will position them for the comeback. Technology adoption was rushing before the pandemic. As increased by the increased use of Internet of Things networks, the “smart” global hospitality market will double $12.727 billion by 2025 (Eggleston, 2021). As much as operational efficiencies, a host of added and new capabilities has been key to hygienic transactions necessary for guests and staff and safety compliance. These solutions are increasingly and table stakes for success in hospitality today and in the post-pandemic future.
Beyond merely booking and check-in platforms, integrated platforms can track where and when guests use spaces, when they’ve been sanitized, and communicate with guests when rooms are ready. Capability also enables virtual guest communications for spa reservations or assistance from staff. And behind–the–scenes operations are facilitated, too, like coordinating with housekeeping (Nelson, 2018).
Much of the investment is customer-facing, especially since the guest experience is a significant competitive differentiator- essential now. It’s made another trend also pick up more speed personalization- which relies on digital systems and tools. Travel and hospitality organizations’ two top technology priorities are digital analytics and the front-end customer experience (Kock, 2020).
Improved analytics will give operators the depth of information they require to personalize the guest experience- with personal development truly. Persona reflects distinct customer segments and aligns services and experiences to their preferences. Given the vast amount of data at a hotel’s disposal, this can be an ambitious undertaking (Kock, 2020).
The return on investment of well-satisfied guests speaks to the value of personalization. Consider their reviews. One study shows that every one-star increase will boost a hotel’s revenue by 5 percent to 9 percent. Another survey found 82 percent of respondents will pay a premium for a four-star rated lodging.
The hospitality industry has a long way to recover before it ultimately emerges from the woods. Still, its position is far more optimistic than it was this period in 2020 – and even in the early part of 2021. Its continuing recovery will hinge on the ability to counter the known and unknown difficulties along the way (Assaf, 2021).
References
Assaf, George, (2021), Tourism during and after COVID 19: An Expert-informed Agenda for Future Research,Journal of Travel Research 1-4
Benjamin, Lucca, (2020) Tourist as a vector: Viral mobilities of COVID 19,Dialogues in Human- Geography, Vol, 10(2) 174-177
Brock, Steve (2020) Here are eight ways to travel will change after the pandemic,National Geographic Magazine,Published on October 6th, 2020.
Eggleston, (2021) Hospitality industry moves into post-pandemic recovery mode,Hub International,Published on August 9th, 2021
Hemmington, N (2021) Hospitality Business Longevity under COVID 19: The impact of COVID 19 on New Zealand’s hospitality industry,Tourism and Hospitality Research(0)0 1-13
Kock, F (2020) Developing Courageous Research Ideas,Journal of Travel Research (59):1140-1146
Melissa, F (2020)Destinations on the rise for 2021,National Geographic Magazine, Published on November 17th, 2020.
Nelson, R (2018)Modern Evolutionary Economics- An Overview.Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press
New Zealand Herald (2020)”COVID 19 Coronavirus ‘Hospitality is in crisis’ Restaurant Association says”Available athttp://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news, accessed on May 26th, 2020.
Renaud, L (2020) Reconsidering global mobility- distancing from mass cruise tourism in the aftermath of COVID-19.Tourism Geography Epub aheadof print May 12th, 2020.
UNWTO (2020) International tourism growth continues to outpace the global economy,World Tourism Organization,Accessed on October 14th, 2021.
Zenker, S (2020) The Coronavirus Pandemic- A critical Discussions of a Tourism Research Agenda”Tourism Management 81:104164
