Strategies Employed by Umrah Business Owners to Survive the Covid-19

Abstract

The presence of Covid-19 has brought a number of negative consequences globally including economic disaster. In the context of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Covid-19 has severely impacted the Umrah tourism, and this has led to many Umrah business operators to experience loss. In addition, many small and medium business operators have to stop operating due to financial difficulties. This study aims to identify the strategies that have been employed by the Umrah business operators to survive the downward of market due to Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, the study attempts to understand the mechanisms that have been adopted by the affected Umrah business operators to maintain their business. As such, a total of three business operators in the Makkah region were selected to be interviewed. The interviews were later transcribed and thematically analyzed. The analysis of interview responses followed the Wenzel (2020)'s Crisis Response Strategies that has been the study's conceptual framework. Findings showed that the strategies that the business owners adopted can be grouped into two themes; first is retrenchment where the business owners will reduce the number of staff being employed and second is perseverance where the business owners will actively look for assistance mainly from the government. The findings have highlighted limited strategies employed by the business owners. This information can be helpful for training purposes where many strategies can be adopted by business owners when they are faced with economic difficulties.