Highlights
Abstract
Graphical abstract
Keywords
1. Introduction
2. Travel and tourism a significant contributor to the global service industry
3. International tourism: regions contribution to the service industry
4. Global health crisis, social stigma, and mental health
5. Social stigma in the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health issues
6. Conclusions
Funding
Declaration of Competing Interest
Acknowledgments
Data for reference
References
Abstract
The study stipulates phases to observe the proposed mechanism in formulating the travel and leisure industry's recovery strategies. The present pandemic COVID-19 has resulted in global challenges, economic and healthcare crises, and posed spillover impacts on the global industries, including tourism and travel that the major contributor to the service industry worldwide. The tourism and leisure industry has faced the COVID-19 tourism impacts hardest-hit and lies among the most damaged global industries. The leisure and internal tourism indicated a steep decline amounting to 2.86 trillion US dollars, which quantified more than 50% revenue losses. In the first step, the study explores the consequences and settings of the COVID-19 pandemic and how innovation and change can contribute to the tourism industry's revival to the next normal. Thus, the study determines that tourism enterprises and scholars must consider and change the basic principles, main assumptions, and organizational situations related to research and practice framework through rebuilding and establishing the tourism sector. In the second step, the study discusses direct COVID-19 tourism impacts, attitudes, and practices in gaining the leisure industry's boom and recovery. In the third phase, the study proposes to observe the characteristics and COVID-19 tourism consequences on the travel and tourism research. The findings provide insights in regaining the tourism industry's operational activities and offer helpful suggestions to government officials, scholars, and tourism firms to reinvest in the tourism industry to set it back to a normal position.
1. Introduction
The appearance of the lethal disease COVID-19 has resulted in massive financial losses and caused global health and economic crises worldwide (Anderson et al., 2020; McKenna and Bargh, 1998; Brewer, 2016). The most frightening news of the seasonal influenza outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics, and catastrophes results in a steep decrease in the travel and tourism industry, a dominant contributor to the service industry (Abbas, 2021; Jones et al., 2015; Avery, 2010). The pandemics adversely impact tourists' behaviors and their mental wellbeing (Aman et al., 2019; Bauer et al., 2021; Park et al., 2019). As a result, they drop their planned tour plans in fear of the disease infection, as it looks impossible to avoid transmission of the virus during travel (Mamirkulova et al., 2020; Avery, 2017; Meadows et al., 2019). Besides, tourists travel increases infection risk to other air passengers in the absence of effective vaccines (Su et al., 2021; Hu and Zhang, 2014; Reynolds and W.S., 2005; Tonsaker et al., 2014). Travelers play a significant role in transferring viruses, epidemics', outbreaks, or pandemics between local communities' destinations (Hollingsworth et al., 2006; Abbott, 2021; Zhong et al., 2021; Li et al., 2018). At present, the entire world is facing crisis communication in the media (Su et al., 2021). The adverse consequences of the COVID-19 on the travel and leisure industry resulted in novel viral disease appurtenance (Su et al., 2020). Infectious viruses are highly contagious, mutate rapidly and increase mortality (Local Burden of Disease, H.I.V.C. 2021).