IMPACTS OF THE PANDEMIC ON HOSPITALITY OPERATIONS: THE MANAGERIAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Despite the fact that there has been much research in the field of COVID-19 and its impacts, the existing literature has been extensively dominated by a limited time scale and departments in the hospitality industry. Therefore, this study investigates the potential short-term impacts of a pandemic on hospitality operations, specifically relating to the revision of annual budgets and the provision of regular services and how these operations progressed in 2 years. The study aims to fill the literature gap and convey the mission to guide entrepreneurs and managers from an industrial perspective. Data were collected twice: the first was in the early weeks of 2021while the second corresponds to the early weeks of 2022 through personal interviews with 13 general managers of hospitality businesses operating in Turkey. Findings indicate that the pandemic has substantially changed the proposed annual budgets and hospitality operations. However, such changes have yet to be fully stable later.