The negative impacts of the COVID-19 on the tourism economy would include:
- The businesses make losses as the country undergoes a lockdown. That is, tourists get limited access to tourism services due to reduced household income.
- Employee retrenchment due to reduced services offered in the sector makes the workers suffer since they lack regular support and settle their wants (Hlavackova, 2020). In this scenario, people working in this sector will be disadvantaged, and in that way, the economy gets affected negatively.
- Closing state borders, canceling events, and restricting local travels affected the number of tourists entering the country. In that way, the income of the tourism sector got affected
- The high season for the industry, especially during the summer, when many sectors aim to recover economic recessions.
- Most of the SMEs got closed, and they seem to complement the tourism industry.
However, there are some positive impacts of COVID-19 in the tourism sector.
- The disease enlightened all the sectors which provide services to people in observing better hygiene such that even after the pandemic, people will still follow the handwashing practices.
- The SMEs which probably operated on loans are getting freed of the debts or subsidy to ease the pressure (Hlavackova, 2020).
- Governments are providing incentives to businesses to ensure they recover from the economic downturn.
- COVID-19 has enlightened many departments, including the tourism sector, on innovative ways to approach business, especially using technology, to improve its management.
- COVID-19 has enhanced planning in the Prague tourism industry, where the workers would take time to ensure that there are better plans to handle any uncertainties.
TOURISM PLAN / COVID-19 RECOVERY STRATEGY