An Appraisal of the Potential Impacts of Covid-19 on Tourism in Nigeria

Abstract

The outbreak and spread of covid-19 disease has resulted in countries of the world placing travel restrictions and closure of their borders to movements to and from other countries. The tourism industry is one of the sectors that would be greatly affected. Data for the study was generated from desk review of secondary materials, online blogs and interview through social media chat. Findings of the study reveal that the outbreak and spread of covid-19 disease led to rapid shutdowns in cities and states across the country, which greatly affected the tourism industry. Industries in the tourism sector such as airlines, hotels, entertainment and hospitality industries are facing declining demand and patronage with travel crashes and cancellations expected to continue. The increased cancellations of hotels and travel bookings resulted in billions of dollars in revenue loss and hundreds of thousands of job loss in the country. The findings of the study reveal that covid-19 is already worsening the unemployment situations in the country, resulting in loss of substantial revenue to the government, increasing incidence of poverty among others. Based on the findings, the study recommends the need for diversification priorities to alternative sectors such as tourism and agriculture and compensation to business operators in the tourism and other critical sector.