POST COVID-19 EFFECTS ON THE VARIOUS SECTOR IN

BANGLADESH

[Hospitality & Tourism Sector]

Course name: Applied Statistics

Course code: STA-202
Submitted to: Shanjida Chowdhury
Department: Department of General Educational Development
Submitted by: Team - B (ELITE)

Name Student ID Section

SL. NO.

Zafrin Akter 202-11-1170

01 DSC-A

02 S. M. Rakib 202-11-1172 DSC-A

03 Istiak Ahmed Yead 202-11-1173 DSC-A

04 Jobayer Hosen 202-11-1184 DSC-A

05 Zanith Zinia 202-11-1186 DSC-A

Date of Submission: 17 July, 2021

Table of Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................. 2
Chapter–01 ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 2
Chapter-02 ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Description ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Topics of the report........................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter-03 ............................................................................................................................................. 5
Findings and Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 5
3.1 COVID-19 effects in Aviation Sector: ................................................................................... 6
3.2 COVID-19 effects in Hotel Sector: ........................................................................................ 6
3.3 COVID-19 effects in Restaurant Sector:............................................................................... 7
Chapter-04 ............................................................................................................................................. 9
Recommendations ............................................................................................................................. 9
4.1 Proper implementation of the incentive package declared by the Government: .............. 9
4.2 Compliance with health and hygiene protocols to resume tourism amid Covid-
19: ................................................................................................................................................... 9
4.3 Digitization of tourism services: ....................................................................................... 9
4.4 Stimulation of demand through continuous marketing activities: ........................ 10
4.5 Engagement and participation of the local community: .......................................... 10
4.6 More emphasis on domestic tourism:............................................................................ 10
4.7 Conduct more research to understand tourists' travel behavior amid Covid-19:
...................................................................................................................................................... 10
4.8 Establishment of travel bubbles with neighboring countries: ................................ 10
Chapter-05 ........................................................................................................................................... 11
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 11
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................... 11
References ............................................................................................................................................ 12

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 Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discuss the post COVID-19 effect on the tourism industry in
Bangladesh. This review utilized journals, historical records, newspaper articles, World Health
Organization statistics, governmental data, and website materials on COVID-19 incidences in
tourism. Secondary research was adopted in which secondary data were collected through a
comprehensive literature review. The COVID-19 outbreak has significantly affected global
travel and tourism. Bangladesh has also experienced an adverse impact on inbound and
outbound tourism. International and domestic tourists have cancelled bookings in Bangladesh,
and outbound tourism activities have also been banned. Airlines have cancelled flights, while
hotels are almost completely vacant, and as a result, supporting tourism agencies are facing
huge economic losses and employment cuts in Bangladesh. The amplification of COVD-19 is
predicted to cause a long-term adverse impact on tourism in Bangladesh. The government of
Bangladesh has declared an incentive package for early economic recovery that is needed for
businesses to survive the pandemic. This report shows the effects on the tourism sectors during
the COVID-19 pandemic and the post COVID-19 challenges for the tourism industry.

Keywords: COVID-19, Pandemic, Tourism, Post COVID situation, Recovery, Bangladesh.

Chapter–01
Introduction

The Hospitality and Tourism Sector (HTS) is one of the 15 major sectors that are used to
estimate the GDP of the country. In terms of strict definition, the HTS incorporates
accommodation services, traditional restaurants, exotic cuisine and fast-food stalls, tour
operators and travel agents, transportation services (land, water and air), historical and
archaeological sites and stores around them mainly catering to tourists, various wholesale and
retail trading stores facilitating accommodation and food services, etc. These sectors and sub-
sectors contribute around one quarter of GDP (GOB, 2020).

Consequent upon the ‘new normal’ lifestyle accompanied by severe disruption of economic
activities wreaked havoc on the economy of Bangladesh. However, the impact of the COVID-

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19 pandemic was uneven both across geography and type of economic activity. Consequently,
the sector was one of the worst hit sectors affected by COVID-19 pandemic. The country-wide
lockdown imposed by the government led to closure of hotels, motels, restaurants, and
transport sector activities as well as cancellation of all domestic and international flights to and
from Bangladesh resulting in huge losses in this sector. Even though the lockdown has been
gradually withdrawn since June, 2020; this sector is still susceptible to the adverse effects of
the COVID-19 pandemic in long-run considering the incessant spread out of this deadly virus.

As a matter of fact, the magnitude of the loss to the HTS has not been rigorously assessed and
quantified to help the policy makers decide about the nature and extent incentives/stimuli that
need to be provided to survive let alone revamp the sector. Consequently, informed policy
making is hampered due to lack of credible estimates of loss in terms of turnovers, curtailment
work hours or downright retrenchment of workers. In view of this, it has become imperative to
conduct an in-depth analysis of the current status of the HTS and identify the probable impacts
in terms of loss of revenues and consequent retrenchment of workers and/or reduced work
hours/day of workers both during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic economy.
Accordingly, the study would assess the micro, meso and macroeconomic impact, albeit
differential, of the COVID-19 on the sector along with policy suggestions for recovery in a
post-pandemic environment.

Chapter-02
Description

Hospitality and tourism sector is mainly based on human movement and social interaction,
governments' initiatives to inhibit coronavirus stretch have caused this sector to be the worst
sufferer. With the grounding of airlines and the transformation of luxury hotels into ghost cities,
the travel and tourism sector has been adversely impacted. In their recent report (2020), World
Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) stated that the tourism sector is undergoing a critical
situation with 1 million jobs being suffered daily while 100.8 million workers are already at
risk of losing their jobs. The Asian tourism sector has been seriously affected in the aftermath
of the pandemic and is expected to lose GDP, equivalent to USD 1041 billion (Holy, 2020).

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The travel and tourism sector of Bangladesh is no exception. Bangladesh's tourism industry
has reportedly halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The virus was believed to be transmitted
to Bangladesh in March 2020, the pandemic has expanded every day throughout the country,
and the number of infected people has increased. The government was forced to close all public
events at tourism sites temporarily due to the massive fear of this epidemic to save all residents.
In its newly established website "Covid-19: Measures to Support Travel and Tourism", The
World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has disclosed that the tourism industry of Bangladesh
will face a deficit of USD 470 million in 2020. Although Covid-19 is substantially affecting
the worldwide tourism sector, little research has been done regarding Covid-19 pandemics'
effect on Bangladesh's travel and tourism sector. Besides, the recovery strategies to reduce the
pandemic's detrimental effect have not been adequately elucidated in the previous studies.

There are some sectors which are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, these are- aviation
sector, hotel sector, restaurant sector, amusement park, job sector, transport sector, etc.

International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported that a pandemic of

coronavirus could reduce the sales of Bangladeshi airline operators by USD 190 million in
2020. The immediate repercussions of the crisis have affected Bangladesh’s local airlines
further, as they have smaller balance sheets and less financial capital to deal with the disaster.
With almost all flights suspended since the lock-down, the number of flights has fallen sharply.
Bangladesh's upscale hospitality industry is hit hard by the coronavirus disaster. PATA
Bangladesh Chapter (2020) projected that around 1 lakh employees had lost their hospitality
sector jobs, and the industry has experienced an enormous loss of 15 billion U.S. dollars up to
June 2020. Economic consequences have also impacted the hotel industry due to travel
restrictions and flight cancellation. In April, the occupancy rates of luxury hotels fell
dramatically. Although hotels usually have seen an 80% occupancy rate, the average current
rate has plummeted to 30%. Since the Covid-19 pandemic mostly caused people to stay locked
up, the restaurant business is one of the countries' primary sectors to be affected. The
Bangladesh Restaurant Owners' Association estimates that around 60,000 restaurants are
located in the country, with about 12 lakh employees (Siddiqui, 2020). Dhaka, the capital city
of Bangladesh, contains one-sixth of the total restaurants in Bangladesh, and the business in
Dhaka restaurants has fallen by 90 percent due to Covid-19 (Devnath, 2020). Until June 2020,
the restaurant industry has suffered enormous losses of USD 4.5 billion, and 1.5 lakh people
have become jobless, according to an estimate made by PATA Bangladesh Chapter (2020).

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 Topics of the report

The main emphasis of this report is to analyze and evaluate the -

➢ The impacts of COVID-19 at tourism sectors in Bangladesh,

➢ The analysis of losses at tourism sector in Bangladesh,
➢ Effects in post COVID situation at tourism sector,
➢ Recommendation for the post covid situation.

Chapter-03
Findings and Analysis

Bangladesh's travel and tourism sector was considered a possible contributor to

its economy. Bangladesh's tourism revenue hit USD 357 million in December
2018, as per the data from the Census and Economic Information Center (CEIC).
However, the COVID-19 epidemic has affected this field adversely. If the
situation does not change, Bangladesh's travel and tourism sector alone could lose
up to USD 710 million this year, predicted by the Tour Operator Association of
Bangladesh (TOAB), a 678-tour organizer. In addition to this, PATA Bangladesh
(2020) has estimated that Bangladesh's total travel and tourism industry would
lose about USD 1144 million by June 2020 owing to the COVID 19 pandemic
outburst.

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3.1 COVID-19 effects in Aviation Sector:
The aviation industry of Bangladesh has been ready to link the state during a manner that
appeared difficult a few of years ago, offering an important mode of transport and connectivity
that has bolstered the region's economic process. the worldwide travel ban has affected aviation
firms directly and placed service providers under intense financial strain during the coronavirus
epidemic. International air transportation Association (IATA) has reported that an epidemic of
coronavirus could reduce the sales of Bangladeshi airline operators by USD 190 million in
2020. IATA data also suggested that 17,000 people explicitly employed within the airline
industry and related businesses are already scared of losing their employment. The immediate
repercussion of the crisis has affected Bangladesh's local airlines further, as they need smaller
balance sheets and fewer financial capital to affect the disaster. With most flights suspended
since the lock-down, the number of flights has fallen sharply. the number of passengers
dropped from 25 to 30 percent on domestic routes.

200

150

100

50

Source: DATABD.CO (2020)

By March, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the flag carrier, announced losses approaching BDT 4
billion. Besides, the airline terminated 698 international and domestic flights within March.
US-Bangla, the foremost significant private local carrier, has slashed international route flights
by quite 60%. Therefore, they experienced a net loss of a mean of BDT 250- 300 million in
January and February of 2020.

3.2 COVID-19 effects in Hotel Sector:

Bangladesh's upscale hospitality industry is hit hard by the coronavirus disaster. PATA
Bangladesh Chapter (2020) projected that around 1 lakh employees had lost their hospitality
sector jobs, and therefore the industry has experienced a huge loss of 15 billion U.S. dollars up

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to June 2020. Economic consequences have also impacted the hotel industry thanks to travel
restrictions and flight cancellation. In April, the occupancy rates of luxury hotels fell
dramatically. Although hotels usually have seen an 80% percentage, the typical current rate
has plummeted to 30%.

Source: DATABD.CO (2020)

Convention centers also struggle as major national and international events have already
been postponed thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. The country's largest convention center,
namely. International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB), has been severely affected as
half a dozen international conventions in February were postponed due to a coronavirus
outbreak.

3.3 COVID-19 effects in Restaurant Sector:

Since the Covid-19 pandemic mostly caused people to remain locked up, the restaurant
business is one among the countries' primary sectors to be affected. The Bangladesh Restaurant
Owners' Association estimates that around 60,000 restaurants are located within the country,
with about 12 lakh employees. Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, contains one-sixth of the
entire restaurants in Bangladesh, and therefore the business in Dhaka restaurants has fallen by
90 percent thanks to Covid-19. Until June 2020, the restaurant industry has suffered enormous
losses of USD 4.5 billion, and 1.5 lakh people became jobless, consistent with an estimate
made by PATA Bangladesh Chapter (2020).

An interesting phenomenon within the restaurant business thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic is
that the emergence of the "Cloud Kitchen" concept. A cloud kitchen, also referred to as a ghost
kitchen, is actually a delivery-only restaurant with no physical existence for its clients. it always

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works during a commercial and central kitchen and collaborates with third-party service
providers to distribute food. the sole option for consumers to urge their items is to order food
through various apps. In Bangladesh, Kludio is considered the pioneer within the cloud kitchen
industry, which started its journey in 2019. The covid-19 pandemic has increased the necessity
for optimal food packaging and distribution, and since of this, other cloud kitchens cropped up
round the country.

3.4 COVID-19 effects in Amusement Park Sector:

Regardless of the seasonal business period, the Amusement parks of Bangladesh have incurred
severe loss thanks to Covid-19, because the gardens are closed as per the government's
instruction since March 2020. Over the past four and a half months, owners of amusement
parks within the country have struggled to hide high operating costs, payments, and bank credit
installments, as revenue has sunk to zero. Also, several rides from parks and recreation centers
are impaired since the rides have long been closed. The country's renowned funfair, namely the
Fantasy Kingdom, a priority of concord entertainment, has lost approximately Tk 1 million per
day since March 20 thanks to ticket and food sales.

Park Visit

2017 2018 2019 2020

The Foy's Lake complex, located within the port city of Chattogram, is now facing difficulties
in touch the operating expense of 4.8 million takas per month, including monthly staff pay.
Besides, employees and staff members of Dream Holiday Park in Narsingdi are becoming 50
percent of their salaries since March thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. additionally, to

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amusement parks, all the country's public places and parks are publicly unavailable from the
start of the outbreak. As a result, it's exceedingly difficult for older people within the country
to preserve their health since they need no room for physical activity.

Chapter-04
Recommendations

After the COVID-19 situation, there should need some initiatives to recover the massive losses
in a tourism sector. Like-

4.1 Proper implementation of the incentive package declared by the Government:

To boost the tourism industry, the govt of Bangladesh announced that they might be providing
loans at 9% interest to the tourism stakeholders during which the govt would pay 4.5% interest
and therefore the business will bear the remaining 4.5%. The tourism authority should confirm
that the government's opportunities are adequately used transparently.

4.2 Compliance with health and hygiene protocols to resume tourism amid Covid-
19:
Bangladesh Tourism Board, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, has prepared
an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to be followed by all tourism collaborators. Guidelines
include temperature monitoring, physical disassociation, better cleaning efficiency, and
hygiene materials for healthy aviation and hotel facilities, etc.

4.3 Digitization of tourism services:

Tourism marketers should concentrate more on digitizing tourism services and reduce the
amount of touch points that involve automated check-in and departure at hotels, contactless
flight boarding, etc. Besides ensuring safety and security, digitization will enable the marketers
to supply a smooth travel experience to the tourists.

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4.4 Stimulation of demand through continuous marketing activities:
In this troubling time, tourism advertisers should play a key role in forming a positive attitude
towards travel destinations by promoting the execution of health and hygiene protocols
altogether domestic tourist destinations via different communication channels and social media
platforms. Moreover, travelers should be inspired to explore by claiming that vacation
destinations are fresher than they need ever been.

4.5 Engagement and participation of the local community:

To promote and restart a destination from the outset, it's crucial to interact the area people
altogether possible activities. Rebuilding a destination as a brand mostly depends on
maintaining cohesiveness with local citizens and communities.

4.6 More emphasis on domestic tourism:

Domestic tourism would be crucial in reviving the tourism sector since travel restrictions, and
coronavirus fear may delay international tourism. So, tourism marketers should consider
regional tourism by promoting short distance or at some point trip as people will likely to travel
destinations, which is on the brink of their home during this pandemic.

4.7 Conduct more research to understand tourists' travel behavior amid Covid-
19:
The potential travelers' behavioral patterns won't be an equivalent during and post COVID-19.
So, tourism-oriented research should be conducted more to know the behavior of travelers.
These studies also will enable tourism marketers to seek out new market segments or new
segments within the existing market.

4.8 Establishment of travel bubbles with neighboring countries:

Bangladesh Government may take initiatives to determine travel bubbles or travel corridors
with neighboring countries that have shown remarkable leads to minimizing and battling the
pandemic within their territories like Sri Lanka. this may enable both countries' travelers to
travel easily within the corridor without quarantine on arrival.

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 Chapter-05
Conclusion

It is difficult to define the tourism industry, as unlike with other industries, there is not one
clear product. It incorporates many industries, including lodging, transport, attractions, travel
companies, and more. In its broadest sense, tourism is defined as when people travel and stay
in places outside of their usual environment for less than one consecutive year for leisure,
business, health, or other reasons. Globally, travel and tourism's direct contribution to GDP
was approximately 2.9 trillion U.S. dollars (2019). When looking at countries that directly
contributed the most to global GDP the United States’ travel and tourism industry contributed
the largest sum at 580.7 billion U.S. dollars. Export revenues from tourism could fall by $1.2
trillion in 2020. This will have a wider impact and could reduce global GDP by 1.5% to 2.8%.
But the sector has suffered a lot due to the Corona epidemic. Bangladesh is no exception. The
tourism sector is under a lot of threat compared to last year. There has been a lot of loss in this
sector due to the closure of tourism and lockdowns across the country. Many organizations
that are involved in this sector are facing a lot of difficulties. In this situation, the government
needs various types of cooperation to make this sector profitable.
This report shows the effects that hospitality and tourism sectors are facing during the COVID
pandemic and there has some data analysis recommendation for the post COVID situation.

Acknowledgement

Since it was not possible to collect all the data physically for the Corona Pandemic, we
compiled our report based on data from the internet. We collected various data from various
websites on the Internet and HTS own website that was required for our report. We shared our
work with five members of our group to create this report. By making this hole report, we
work as a team and we research all the information by distributing work among us.

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h

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