A Preliminary Study of Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak: A Pandemic Leading Crisis in Tourism Industry of Nepal

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore and illuminate the preliminary impacts of novel coronavirus disease (COVID- 19) in tourism industry of Nepal. The spillover impact of pandemic has been seen in almost every sector globally. Many scholars and practitioners have already started rethinking and researching in different disciplines based on issues regarding COVID-19. Some of the disciplines are International tourism, health sector, international economy, global politics, human civilization, sustainability and so on. The United Nation World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and World Health Organization (WHO) are closely cooperating for understanding the severe impact of escalation of coronavirus on the human health and damage in the world economy as well as tourism sector (UNWTO, 2020). There are uncountable job losses recorded in tourism industry due to stranded traveller’s mobility after many nations including Nepal declared lockdown as a strategy to control the spread of virus Therefore, devastating Airlines, shuttered borders, halt of transportation means and cancellation of rooms in hotels have a vigorous impact on tourism industry than the COVID-19 outbreak itself. It is obvious to experience changes in tourism industry; tourist’s behavior and their reluctance to travel for few years. However, travel of humans for any motives will provide spectrum to tourism mobility. The epidemic has drastically turned into pandemic as the virus has transferred to almost all the nations of the globe without visa so far.

COVID-19 Pandemic and its Impact on Tourism Industry in Nepal

“…Asian Development Bank (ADB) Report (2019; in Ulak, 2020) shows that tourism industry earns on an average 25% of the total foreign exchange. China is the second highest source of tourist in Nepal contributing 20% to the hotel occupancy (Shrestha, 2020) and Chinese tourists have drastically decreased in February and March, coinciding with the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic (Khadka et al, 2020).…”

“…China is the second highest source of tourist in Nepal contributing 20% to the hotel occupancy (Shrestha, 2020) and Chinese tourists have drastically decreased in February and March, coinciding with the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic (Khadka et al, 2020). According to Ulak (2020), tourism industry in Nepal was gradually shift ing from passive-impetus to active-impetus with many mega projects initiation including; Gautam Buddha International Airport in Lumbini; Pokhara Regional International Airport; Tribhuvan International Airport Capacity building; and Fast-track road to Nijgadh were under construction to cater the tourism industry of Nepal. Likewise, numbers of hotels and restaurants as well as new destinations development were on pipelines which are partially halted amid COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Th erefore, the pause of tourism activities due to halt of travelers' mobility amid COVID-19 pandemic has brought devastating crisis for the industry. Many countries are combating the situation eff ectively and many countries are suff ering very hard (Ulak, 2020).…”

“…According to Wu, Chen and Chan (2020), "COVID-19 is a contagious respiratory illness caused by novel coronavirus" which was spread very fast (Baker & Rosbi, 2020, p.189) and has a long incubation period (Zaki & Mohamed, 2020, p.1). Th e new coronavirus was discovered in December, 2019 for the fi rst time in Wuhan, China (ADB, 2020a; Gössling, Scott & Hall, 2020, p.1;Folinas & Metaxas, 2020;UNWTO, 2020a;Ulak, 2020;Zhu et al, 2020) later declared a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) on 12 March, 2020 (Sigala, 2020). Pandemic is the form of epidemic that spreads through human population aff ecting large numbers of people of the entire world (Samal, 2014, p.165).…”

“…Considering the intensity of coronavirus and its health impact, Nepal Government had to cancel the ambitious campaign "Visit Nepal Year 2020" which aimed in bringing 2 million tourists in Nepal (Ulak, 2020). According to Nepal Tourism Statistics (2019), there are altogether 1254 registered hotels (star and tourist standard categories); 29 international airlines fl ying to Nepal; 20 domestic airlines; and 2649 registered trekking agencies and other subsectors which are having tough time to sustain their businesses.…”