Discuss the Financial Impact On Hong Kong SAR and Macau’s Hotel Industries Under the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak. Tourists’ intention, The Role of Government and Corporates’ Management During Pandemic.

Financial Impact On Hong Kong SAR and Macau’s Hotel Industries Under the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak. Tourists’ intention, The Role of Government and Corporates’ Management During Pandemic.

 

Abstract

 

This study aims to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Hong Kong Hospitality industries and the managerial perceptions of the government and corporate. The project aims to explain the effects that the 2019 Pandemic have on the performance of both public and private owned hotel business in Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR for. The study will review the performance of different hotels divided into different groups such as private and public owned, business scale and different markets. Another part of this study is a survey on travelers’ preferences before and after the breakout. This study will also evaluate the implemented governments’ policies during the pandemic. With the research of the mentioned sessions, recommendations will be eventually provided.

 

Background

The tourism and hospitality industry in Asia has been continuously growing and became substantial in recent years. However, as Covid-19 broke out from China in December 2019, the industry encounters a devastating blow. Within three months, the virus spread globally, nothing remained as it used to be, and public life seemed frozen. All around the world, tourism came to a complete standstill. Despite the fact that there is literature about the impacts of various crises on tourism and hospitality, there is no academic research about the actual impact of Covid-19 on the hotel industries of Hong Kong and Macau.

 

Purpose

This thesis aims to determine how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the mentioned region’s hotels. Recovery strategies in the short- and long- term to overcome the crisis are uncovered. To find out the psychological barricade during the “low season of Covid”, a sample of tourists’ incentives and objectives to travel during the outbreak will also be included in the research to help explain the impact on the hotel business. Government of Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR’s policies towards the outbreak and the aid they offered will be briefly described. Lastly, what has been learned from the situation and managerial strategies, which might be beneficial for the future, is presented. The solutions of the research are mainly intended to support general managers of hotels to manage business during a crisis.

 

Research Methodology

The results of this research are derived from primary and secondary sources of information. For primary research, survey will be designed in order to collect data from potential travelers and frequent flyers. The survey will be given out on social platform such as Facebook groups, LinkedIn and WhatsApp Messenger. Phone survey with questionnaires identical to the online version will also be used for data collecting purpose. In Addition, a qualitative approach was selected, and three interviews with general managers/ marketing and sale directors of Hong Kong and Macau local hotels were conducted to receive detailed information about the impact of the pandemic on the industry. In order to get an overview of the topic and to acquire some background information such as government policies, literature was used for secondary research. The results of the thesis will show the impact of the pandemic. Due to travel restrictions and closed borders, the industry was suffering. In order to overcome the crisis, costs were expected to be re-evaluated and put to an absolute minimum. However, every crisis is also an opportunity, and hotels had to adapt their target markets based on countries, where people are allowed to travel. As the result, a SWOT analysis will also be provided for the local hotels in the regions.