THEASSESSMENT OF ECONOMIC IMPACT OF COVID 19 OUTB REAK ON HOTEL INDUSTRIES: THE CASE OF STAR RATED HOTELS IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in mass production shutdowns and supply chain disruptions causing global ripple effects across all economic sectors in a manner that was never expected. It is projected that the spread of the disease will have serious humanitarian challenges to the countries of the world and especially Africa and Ethiopia in particular. Therefore the purpose of this study is to assess the economic impact of COVID 19 outbreak on Hotel industry in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The study is going to be guided by the following specific objectives: determine to which extent COVID 19 outbreak affects the profitability of hotel industries, to examine the effect of COVID 19 outbreak on the employee aspect, determine the impact of COVID 19 outbreak on the sales revenue of hotel industry and to determine the extent of COVID 19 outbreak on hotel consumer behavior. The study was conducted in five different star rated hotels which are Intercontinental hotel, Semen hotel, Soramba hotel, Sarem hotel and Addis view hotel. There are 464 staff members that are found on this study area from that 208 was selected by using Yamane`s formula. The study adopted by using mixed research approach and made use of both primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected directly from the participants through using self-administered questionnaire and secondary data were gathered from secondary sources from the company annual reports, through reviewing both published and unpublished documents such as books, articles, reports and other publication. The data gathered through questionnaire survey, mainly using 5-point Likert scale items and analyzed by SPSS version 24 by using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Findings were presented using tables, and interpreted and discussed using qualitative narrations. Findings of the review reveal that the outbreak of pandemic disease led to rapid shutdowns in cities and states across the country, increased cancellations of hotels and travel bookings which greatly affected the hospitality industry in terms of revenue, unemployment situations, destroyed profitability and affect the attitude of hotel consumer. The review recommends that maintaining the safety and security of employees and guests should have to be the highest priority and managers should have to focuses on provision of alternative service and diversification of service to return back to normal operations.