DETUROPE-THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OFREGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM
Vol. 13 Issue 3 2021 ISSN 1821-2506
Original scientific paper
STRATEGIES OF TOURISM SERVICE PROVIDERS TO COPE WITH
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Helena KUBÍČKOVÁ8
, Andrea HOLEŠINSKÁa
a
Masaryk University, Faculty of Economics and Administration, Brno, Czech Republic,
helena.kubickova@mail.muni.cz; holesinska@econ.muni.cz
Cite this article: Kubíčková, H., Holešinská, A. (2021). Strategies of Tourism Service Providers to Cope with the
COVID-19 Pandemic. Deturope. 13(3), 118-129.
Abstract
The situation with the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on the development of tourism. It
imposes restrictions on both tourism supply and tourism demand. Government lockdowns travel businesses
and, at the same time, restricts the freedom of movement. Thus, the supply and demand sides have to cope
with the exogenous shocks. The first evidence of experience and reactions of travel businesses was
presented in early March 2020. Data from bookings describes how visitors start to adapt their travel
behavior to the exit strategies. Even rural tourism is affected by the worldwide spread crisis. To highlight
the impacts on rural tourism, this research focuses on middle and small-sized entrepreneurs (e.g., farmers,
winemakers, local private rural museums, local accommodation providers; local providers of hippotherapy)
and on local tourist organizations (e. g. DMO, tourist information centers) involved in rural
tourism. The aim of this study is to show how they overcame the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In other words, the study describes the changes in visitor behavior from the perspective of rural tourism
providers. The research is based on a case study of South Moravia and applies both qualitative (a
questionnaire survey) and quantitative (interviews) methods. The research data shows that rural tourism
providers manage to cope with the government restrictions and tailor their services to new customers"
requirements as well. Besides the loss of incomes, tourism service providers face a decrease in the number
of visitors, and thus they suffer a slump in sales. The majority of all rural tourism providers responded that
their segment of visitors had changed. More specifically, the absence of foreign visitors was replaced by
domestic ones.
Keywords: COVID-19; behavior of visitors; reactions of service providers; exit strategy; rural tourism
INTRODUCTION
Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest issue nowadays. The effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic on international tourism (e.g., Gossling, Scott & Hall, 2021) and its
transformation impacts (e.g., Hall, Scott, & Gossling, 2021) have been extensively published.
Even estimating models (Skare, Sariano, & Porada-Rochoh, 2021) have been introduced. In
general, the impacts on tourism businesses have been widely discussed (e.g., Richards, 2020),
as well as the behaviour of the tourism demand-side (e.g., Keller, 2020).
The aim of this paper is to identify exit strategies of tourism service providers (from both
the private and public sectors) that helped them to overcome the situation with the COVID-19
pandemic. The paper highlights two aspects that influence the behavior of tourism service
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providers during the COVID-19 pandemie. The first one considers the government restrictions
and the second one the visitors' changed decisions.
Furthermore, the paper describes the application of crisis management in tourism practice.
Tourism service providers (specifically, small-sized entrepreneurs) without any previous
experience had to cope with the situation and had to invent their own strategy how to survive.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Knowledge of the behavior (expectations) of visitors is important for the decision-making of
tourism service providers. Based on this knowledge, they can effectively make their offer
(tourism product). The behavior of visitors and their motives have been addressed by a number
of authors. In the 1960s-1970s, it was a trend to travel with the motive of "recovering from
work" and the possibilities and availability of travel had an impact on the decision-making that
appeared differently for certain groups of people, see Cohen (1972) and his typology of the
visitor or Plog (1973) and his classification of alo-centric and psychocentric. In the 1990s, travel
became a 'philosophy of life' and this was reflected in the changes of visitor behavior, see posttourist
(Urry, 1990). Information and communication technologies are bringing a major change
in the trend of visitor behavior. The instant availability of information and at the same time the
easy accessibility to the destination result in the fact that the visitor makes decisions very
quickly (Tajeddini, Ratten, Merkle, 2019) and spends his/her holiday in the same way. The
vacation is cheaper, shorter and faster (Poon, 2003). However, a dramatic change was brought
about by the COVID-19 pandemic, which slowed down this trend (Fotiadis, Polyzos, Huan,
2021). Visitors were forced to reevaluate their expectations (Hao, Bai, Sun, 2021).
Nevertheless, the desire to travel has remained! In addition, visitor attitudes and requirements
have changed (www.revfine.com, 2020). Digital technologies dominate the tourism industry.
People want to travel safely! (Kock, Norfelt, Josiassen, Assaf Tsionas, 2020) But they prefer
local experiences - avoiding mass tourism as a potential opportunity to get infected with
COVID-19. Moreover, they choose nearby destinations rather than international ones (Arbulu,
Razumova, Rey-Maquieira, Sastre, 2021). The first research question in this context is: How
did visitors adapt their behavior to the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic?
However, changes in visitor behavior are not the only aspect to which tourism service
providers must adapt. The corona pandemic as an exogenous shock precedes a crisis situation
(Keller, 2020), to which governments must urgently respond. The search for decisions and
unclear communication from the government creates instability and chaos (Holešinská &
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Záboj, 2021). The crisis becomes chronic under these conditions (Antušák, 2009). Tourism
service providers are thus forced to develop a strategy that will meet the demands of visitors
and at the same time comply with government restrictions. The further research questions are:
How did tourism service providers cope with government restrictions? How did they react to
the visitor's changed behavior?
DATA AND METHODS
For the purpose of this research, the case study was chosen as the best example demonstrating
the behaviour of tourism service providers with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
(spring 2020). The basis is a questionnaire survey. This was supplemented by personal
interviews. The case study is, therefore, both quantitative and primarily qualitative in nature.
The questionnaire included both closed and open-ended questions or combined questions.
The structure of the questionnaire corresponded to the focus of the research. The questionnaire
was distributed by email, in the form of a link to the online application, and at the same time in
the form of .doc or .pdf format.
As far as the interviews are concerned, they were conducted, both in person and by telephone
due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Representatives who provide typical services of rural tourism
from both public and private sector were selected.
Data sample
The research included 823 entities. These represented typical service providers of rural tourism.
The major criterium was the local character of their service. A total of 121 respondents
answered the questionnaire survey, which ran from May to July 2021 (Tab. 1). Of these, tourism
service providers from the private sector are dominant. The return rate of the questionnaires
was 14%. The lower return rate can be attributed to a reluctance to respond due to the long
duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and partly due to the number of open-ended questions.
Nevertheless, valuable information was still obtained and supported by the interviews
conducted. Two business entities and one public sector entity participated in the interviews.
Table 1 Data sample
Total addressed Respondents (n = 121) Interviews (n = 3'
823 Private Public Private Public823
95 26 2 1
Source: own survey
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The case study covers the region of South Moravia in the Czech Republic. The destination is
typical of its rural character. In addition, the destination is famous for its leisure activities, such
as wine tourism, farming, or cycling. Besides the providers of typical business services, such
as private accommodation, wine degustation, farming, bike rent, boat rent, and wellness, the
research sample covers the providers of public services, e.g., tourist information centres, nature
and culture heritage, museums, destination management organizations (DMOs). Providers were
categorised according to their specialization into eight categories (Tab. 2).
Table 2 Categories of tourism service providers and their representation in the data sample
Categories Private
Sector
% Public
Sector
% Total %
Accommodation 64 52.9 1 0.9 65 53.8
Wine tourism 18 14.9 0 0.0 18 14.9
Cycling tourism 5 4.1 0 0.0 5 4.1
Agritourism 4 3.3 0 0.0 4 3.3
Attractiveness & Services 4 3.3 4 3.3 8 6.6
Historical & Natural Heritage 0 0.0 4 3.3 4 3.3
Tourist centers 0 0.0 13 10.7 13 10.7
DMOs 0 0.0 4 3.3 4 3.3
Total 95 78.5 26 21.5 121 100.0
Source: own research
The composition of employees in the sample is mainly represented by family businesses and
small-sized entrepreneurs, which confirms the rural character of the region. Prior to the coronacrisis,
32% of respondents had no (0) employees. 46% of respondents had 1-5 employees. 13%
of respondents reported employing 6-10 people. And only 12% of tourism service providers
had more than ten employees.
Methods
The data obtained were cleaned and processed using mathematical and statistical methods. Due
to the nature of the questions, mainly descriptive statistics was used. The responses from the
open-ended questions of the questionnaire and the interview outputs, which are qualitative in
nature, were subjected to sentiment analysis and categorized according to commonalities. A
word cloud method was also used to visualize the most frequent statements of respondents.
The key output presenting the categorized views of respondents is the matrix of change. The
matrix is based on the frequencies of the statements, which are then compared. The matrix
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represents a system that describes the association between the changes in visitor behavior
(tourism demand side) and reactions of tourism service providers to the changes in customer
requirements (tourism supply-side).
RESULTS
Overall, tourism service providers commented on the impact of the COVID-crisis on their
business (Fig. 1). Based on the Likert-scale, respondents assessed their situation. For the
purpose of this paper, the results assessed the Change in number of visitors, Change in customer
base, and Change/adaptation to customer requirements - see the box.
Figure 1 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism service providers
Loss of income from business
Struggling with debt
Termination of business
Staff redundancies
Departure of employees
Additional costs
Change of revenues
Change in number of visitors
Change in customer base
Change/adaptation to customer requirements
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
• Strongly agree • Agree • Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
Source: own survey
However, additional comments from respondents (n = 28) revealed other relevant responses
that further specified not only a change in the behavior of some tourism service providers, but
also a change in the behavior of visitors. In the case of tourism service providers, this was an
attempt to optimize their activities by adjusting their offer. In the second case, it was about
specific changes in visitor behavior.
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Visitor behavior in the COVID-19 pandemic
The results show that the majority of respondents (86%, n = 121) experienced a significant
decrease in the number of visitors compared to the pre-pandemic status. The decrease ranged
from 26-50%. This was mainly due to the government restrictions in the form of state border
closures (movement restrictions) and lockdown. In addition, two other factors were also
evident. Firstly, there was a Change in customer base (Fig. 1) in terms of visitor flows. And
secondly, tourism service providers specifically mentioned examples of changes in visitor
behavior. These examples were categorized (e.g., Ordering process, New segment, Missing
demand). The word cloud (Fig. 2) below shows the frequency of responses (examples) in each
category.
Figure 2 Changes in the behavior of visitors (n = 120)
Source: own research
The change in visitor flows was experienced by 43 % (n = 120) of respondents. From the
comments, four scenarios can be identified by respondents. The most common was a
simultaneous decline in domestic and foreign demand (1). The second scenario was
characteristic of the entire Czech Republic, specifically a decline in foreign visitors (2). The
opposite of the second scenario was an increase in domestic visitors (3). The last scenario, less
reported, is a combination of the second and third scenarios, where there was a simultaneous
increase in domestic visitors and decrease in foreign ones (4). The same scenarios of the change
in visitor flows were also confirmed by interview respondents. Logically, the decline in foreign
visitors is due to the closure of national borders.
Concerning the change in visitor behavior, the results reveal that visitors came in smaller
groups, i.e., where traditionally families with children came, couples started to come; where
commercial events/conferences/training were commonly held, there was a demand for less
capacity private events. Moreover, the findings indicate that there was a change in clientele in
terms of income - 'wealthier' domestic visitors. In addition to the change in the segment of
visitors, the ordering process and requirements changed (see Ordering process). There was an
new_segment
missing_demand
visitor_flc
no_change
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increase in demand for shorter stays (weekend stays). The volume of bookings in advance
decreased and on the contrary, last minute, respectively just in time, demand increased. More
online bookings were made.
Reactions to the visitor's changed behavior - strategies
Generally, the response of tourism service providers to the Change/adaptation to customer
requirements was sorted out into five categories. The following word cloud below (Fig. 3)
presents the frequency of responses in each category. Two exit strategies as a reaction to the
changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the first wave (spring 2020) are evident.
Figure 3 Reactions of tourism service providers (n = 120)
segment_stimulation
safety
Source: own research
The first (dominant) strategy can be described as latent according to the respondents' reactions
('no change'). This strategy is characterized by a lax approach to dealing with or adapting to a
crisis situation. It is manifested at most by the introduction of hygiene measures ('safety'),
which, however, stem from the obligation to accept government regulations rather than from
the will of the respondents. The second option is an adaptation strategy. In this case, tourism
service providers approached the crisis in a proactive manner. In addition to implementing
hygiene measures, they showed their own willingness to optimize services ('product change')
and/or to stimulate visitors ('segment stimulation').
The matrix of change (Tab. 3) shows the reactions of tourism service providers in relation
to a specific change on the demand side, which was manifested by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The matrix shows that 22.5% (n = 120) of respondents did not react to the changes in visitor
behavior (see New segment (n = 2), Ordering process (n = 4), Visitor flows (n = 21)) or even
interrupted/terminated their service provision (4%; n = 120). On the contrary, although some
tourism service providers did not experience any change in demand, a few individuals (n = 7)
still adjusted their offer.
product_change
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Table 3 Matrix of change (n=120)
Reactions of tourism service providers (changes in tourism supply)
£
a
-a
£
•a
o
ID
SO
o
>
o—
0
1
u
PQ
No Segment Product Service
Safety
(6 %)
change
(47 %)
stimulation
(14 %)
change
(29 %)
suspension
(4 %)
Safety
(6 %)
No change (28 %) 24 1 7 1 0
Private sector 21 1 4 1 0
Public sector 3 0 3 0 0
New segment (10 %) 2 2 6 0 2
Private sector 2 2 4 0 2
Public sector 0 0 2 0 0
Missing demand (12 %) 5 2 4 2 1
Private sector 4 2 -->
3 0 1
Public sector 1 0 1 2 0
Ordering process (7 %) 4 3 3 0 0
Private sector 3 3 3 0 0
Public sector 1 0 0 0 0
Visitor flows (43 %) 21 9 15 2 4
Private sector 17 8 8 2 1
Public sector 4 1 7 0
Source: own research
The most common reaction to the change in demand was the modification of their tourism
service/product (29%; n = 120). A quarter of tourism service providers responded to changes
in visitor flows. Besides the change in their service/product (n = 15; 12.5 %), they focused on
the stimulation of their customers (n = 9; 7.5 %). A key tool for them was pricing policy, i.e.,
lowering prices, providing discounts, and other incentives, such as free gifts when using the
service.
Other interesting results on the corona crisis are offered by the perspective of business sector
and public sector. While different strategies for dealing with the corona-crisis emerge for
business service providers, which is mainly due to the fact that each tried to deal with a very
atypical situation in its own way and to the best of its ability; for public service providers, a
"new" trend emerged (not quite typical of the generally inflexible sector) in the form of moving
their activities to the online space. The results of the interviews indicate that the reason for this
strategy is the "additional" spare time and, above all, the need to stay in constant contact with
visitors (see the new communication mix) - the so-called strategy "To be visible".
Tourism service providers and government restrictions
It is evident that thanks to the government restrictions, the vast majority of tourism service
providers (87%; n = 121) experienced the Change of their revenues and only 14 respondents
did not make a loss compared to the situation before the corona crisis. On average, tourism
service providers' profits decreased by 25%. A positive finding was that only one respondent
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stopped his/her business after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (spring 2020). The
verbal responses indicated that many private tourism service providers would not tolerate
another lockdown, primarily due to the lack of funding. However, another good finding was
that a very small percentage (+/- 8%; n = 121) of respondents said they were struggling with
debt and staffredundancies. The latter was largely a result of the large representation of family
businesses with zero number of employees and simultaneous use of subsidy programs for
supporting employment (Antivirus Program). The departure of employees was also not
dramatic for tourism service providers, although the general concern of workers leaving the
tourism sector was mentioned in the verbal comments. This was also confirmed by the
respondents in the interviews.
Generally, tourism service providers managed to cope with the government restrictions even
if the respondents' comments on the implemented government measures showed a strongly
negative sentiment (74%; n = 121). The categorized evaluative statements are described by the
word cloud (Fig. 4). The most frequent statement (more than 1/3) was "no comment", meaning
I prefer not to comment. The next most frequent statement was "chaos". Tourism service
providers consider the governments restrictions "nonsense" and "tourism destructive".
Figure 4 Statements evaluating the government restrictions - word cloud (n = 121)
tourism_destruction
l a t e
-d e d s i o n
chaOS
too_strict
no commentn o n s
unpredictable_steps
u s e [ e s s long_and_expensive
weak_communication Failure
discrimination
uncertainty , . ,
, lack_or_respect
understandable
disappointment
Source: own research
DISCUSSION
The visitor behavior has definitely changed. Although at first glance it may seem that the trend
of'cheaper, shorter and faster' holidays (Poon, 2003) is still continuing, the reality changed by
the corona-crisis is different. The research results confirm that shorter stays are in demand, but
their character differs. This result also confirms Huang, Shao, Zeng, Liu & Li (2021) research.
This is not a mass issue. According to the study published by Revfine.com (2020), trends related
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to the COVID-19 pandemie include, for example, safety and hygiene standards, emphasis on
leisure (fewer business trips in comparison with leisure travelling), shift from international to
local, and technology in tourism (contactless payments or booking via the Internet). All these
mentioned trends independently confirm the results of this research. In the case study tourism
service providers emphasized the change in the segment (the decrease of commercial events in
favor of leisure clientele), as well as they proved the shift from international to local
destinations. In addition, they realized the importance of information and communication
technologies in tourism. Further mentioned trends in Revfine.com study cannot be verified
because they are common for large (international) enterprises.
The reactions of respondents (tourism service providers) confirm that the COVID-19
pandemic represents an exogenous shock (Keller, 2020). In such a situation, support from the
government is essential (Hall, Scott, & Góssling, 2021), as proved by a study from Macao
(McCarney, 2020). However, on the part of tourism service providers, this requires the adoption
of the necessary strategy to help to overcome the crisis. Stressful situations bring with them
pressure for greater creativity and new solutions, as confirmed by the respondents' comments.
In the context of the impact of the corona crisis on the development of rural tourism, all is not
as black as it seems. Richard (2020) highlights the pitfalls of large-capacity accommodation
establishments that are based on socializing. In times of the pandemic, this poses a problem
because the key government restriction to avoid the spread of coronavirus disease is done by
the limitation of social contacts. In this context service providers in rural tourism have a certain
"advantage".
CONCLUSION
This study provides the evidence of how tourism service providers in rural tourism managed to
cope with the crisis situation that was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis came
unexpectedly and to adapt to it requires them considerable effort. The findings indicate that in
rural tourism there are especially small-sized entrepreneurs and family businesses that are very
sensitive to market changes. It is obvious that tourism service providers had to face the most
complicated times in their lives. The findings of the case study in the South Moravia region
revealed that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (spring 2020) tourism service
providers had reacted in compliance with the government restrictions and at the same time they
did very impulsively their best to survive the tough situation (without any previous experience).
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In their effort to cope with the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, they generally invented
two types of exit strategies. The first one is the latent strategy with no or a little action, i.e. do
nothing "("no change""); limit the provided service "("service suspension""); or fulfil the
government restrictions "("safety""). On the contrary, the second strategy is proactive with a
willingness to adapt to the situation (therefore adaptation strategy). Tourism service providers
made an effort to optimize their service or modify it according to the customers" requirements
"("product change""). Moreover, as a part of their strategy, they intensively stimulated their
customers "("segment stimulation"") and generally, they had to adapt their activities to the new
patterns of visitor behavior (e.g., ordering process, communication mix in marketing).
Especially the public service providers (i.e., DMOs and tourist centers) showed very a flexible
reaction to the 'customers' needs and moved their activities online.
Despite the very negative assessment of government regulations, most tourism service
providers fought for their existence and looked for ways to use this time for new ideas.
Therefore, in the short term they changed/rethought their priorities and set their (adaptation)
strategy on ""swift innovations"".
Acknowledgement
The paper was prepared within the Specific Research Project No. MUNI/A/1399/2020 of Masaryk
University, Brno, Czech Republic.
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