In this study, the field of tourism entrepreneurship was approached from the perspectives of COVID-19 and government responses. Government supports as policy responses are able to induce positive effects on entrepreneurship, so many countries have developed strategies for tourism initiatives in order to mitigate the adverse effects of the pandemic. Since the tourism sector and tourism entrepreneurship have been deeply affected by the virus, there have been numerous studies conducted on the subject. Accordingly, this study aims to understand the research focusing on the reflection of policy responses to COVID-19 for tourism entrepreneurs by reviewing and analyzing the literature. Based on available studies, emerging research topics were synthesized, and some prominent issues were presented and discussed. Although the research results have shown that the studies are primarily concerned with the effect of the crisis, studies that offer suggestions on policy responses are promising.
TopIntroduction
Covid-19 is a virus that was initially not expected to be so effective and spread rapidly (Ozbay et al., 2021, p. 1). World Health Organization was notified about the cases in Wuhan City on 31 December 2019 (World Health Organization, 2020, p. 1). Shortage in health strategies and policies globally caused widespread infection of Covid-19 (Arbulú et al., 2021, p. 1). Recently, various estimates have been made about how long it would take. Even at the beginning of the pandemic, some studies were carried out on its potential effects and possible scenarios that it may present (Bausch et al., 2021, p. 467). However, the long-term after effects of the virus have not been sufficiently explored yet (Moreno-Luna et al., 2021, p. 1; Portuguez Castro & Gómez Zermeño, 2020, p. 1; Ratten, 2020c, p. 12). In line with the effect it creates, COVID-19 has become a prominent research topic and studied in different fields since researchers could not remain indifferent to this rapid change and transformation. Mainly, its effects on various sectors have been analyzed. Tourism is an observably affected sector since it requires social interaction and travel (Ratten, 2020b, p. 506, 2021, p. 96). Therefore, despite the measures taken, tourism business have been affected by the crisis (Anup, 2021, p. 99).
Covid-19 has brought out the “new normal” - a lifestyle change (Ratten, 2020b, p. 504) - to daily life, and face to face interactions and traveling procedures have become more demanding, or large human groups have been restricted (Liñán & Jaén, 2020, p. 2). Covid-19 has caused several precautions or restrictions, such as complete or partial lockdowns, social distancing, distance learning, restricting crowded social groups and events, etc. (Gössling et al., 2021, p. 2). In addition, Covid-19 was responded by closing non-core business activities (Cowling et al., 2020, p. 593).
Fear of Covid-19 has led to uncertainty and chaos (Uğur & Akbıyık, 2020, p. 2), and it was characterized as “a game changer” (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2021, p. 551) which is “sudden, uncertain, and volatile” (Zhang et al., 2021, p. 3). With Covid-19, the countries of the world found themselves in a crisis. Studies on this virus have been conducted from different countries and regions, such as Spain (Moreno-Luna et al., 2021; Rodríguez-Antón & Alonso-Almeida, 2020), Australia (Pham et al., 2021), South Asia (Upadhaya et al., 2020), India (Chaudhary et al., 2020), England (Ahrens & Ferry, 2020), Europe (Williams, 2020), Vietnam (Quang et al., 2020), Ghana (Dayour et al., 2020), Nepal (Anup, 2021; Khanal, 2020), and Croatia (Payne et al., 2021). It also can be assumed that this geographic variety attests to its widespread effect.
A crisis is commonly defined as an “extreme, unexpected or unpredictable event” that needs a response from establishments (Doern et al., 2019, p. 401). Nevertheless, the crisis can be an opportunity to enhance the resilience, ability to control, gain experiences, and collaboration (Portuguez Castro & Gómez Zermeño, 2020, p. 19). Crises and opportunities are significant concepts in the entrepreneurship field since entrepreneurship is more necessary in crisis conditions (Ratten, 2020c). Due to its competitive advantage, creativity and new ideas are influential in coping with the Covid-19 crisis (Ratten, 2020b, p. 509). Therefore, it is better to re-consider entrepreneurship in connection with the consequences and impact the degree of Covid-19 (Ratten, 2020c, p. 12).