Abstract
European tourism has been largely disrupted by the pandemic throughout 2020. In this study, the economic and social effects of COVID-19 on the tourism sector of European countries were examined. To understand the extent of the pandemic on European tourism, policies followed by countries, physical tourism flows of the accommodation sector, tourism employment, and turnover rates were considered. The study showed that the European tourism sector, especially after the second half of 2020, was hit socially and economically by the devastating effects of the pandemic. In addition, the study revealed the necessity for radical regulations within the sector in the post-pandemic period.
TopBackground
Hunger, war, and financial crises have had devastating effects in the history of the world. However, the outbreaks of the 21st century are even more dangerous, resulting in the deaths of millions of people. The developing world deviated from its natural balance with globalization and population growth, thus facilitating the spread of epidemics and extending the duration of the pandemic. According to diverse studies, epidemics have negative effects on the economic power of countries and the long-lasting pandemics result in crises (Jonung and Roeger, 2006; Barro, Ursúa and Weng, 2020). Recently, pandemic diseases such as SARS, MERS, which threaten humanity, and the COVID-19 virus, which changes our lifestyle, have emerged in the world. These developments show that epidemic diseases will play an important role in the economic, demographic, and social shaping of this century and will change our lifestyles (Shi, Chen, Wang, Teng, Yang and Chen, 2021).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): GDP is equal to the sum of the gross value added of all resident institutional units engaged in production, plus any taxes on products and minus any subsidies on products. Gross value added is the difference between output and intermediate consumption.
Capital Investment: This is an investment in a real asset that is expected to generate a future return.
Teleworking: This is working at home and being linked to customers, clients and the employer by the means of telecommunications, such as computers and telephones.
Shecession: This term is used to emphasize larger employment losses for women.
Mancession: Mancession is a term to men lost more jobs than women.
Turnover: In the context of structural business statistics, comprises the totals invoiced by the observation unit during the reference period: this corresponds to the total value of market sales of goods and services to third parties.