Impacts of COVID-19 on Youth Tourism and Hospitality Managers in Training in Serbia

Abstract

The tourism industry is facing unexpected economic hardships due to the COVID-19 outbreak, asking for knowledge that would help crisis management create an adequate response. These unprecedented business difficulties increased managers’ and policymakers’ anxiety and pressured them to undertake actions within the industry with uncertain outcomes. This chapter focuses on building a knowledge base of the tourism and hospitality business by examining managers’ perceptions of actions needed to ensure success within conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The managers’ perceptions of success factors were analyzed by measuring their reactions on several measures related to responsive and nonresponsive management. The sample was comprised of 206 Tourism and Hospitality Management students of the University of Novi Sad (Serbia). The questionnaire was conducted from June to October 2020. The research results indicate a clear orientation towards responsive crisis management. Namely, young managers recommend advanced information management, flexible and innovative chains of command and openness to new ideas in planning, transparency in a new way of doing business with employees and clients, redesigning products and identifying new clients, and formal crisis management planning. Closing the business and waiting for the instruction from the state authorities (a nonresponsive management indicator) is considered a less productive approach to doing business during the crisis. These findings contribute to the development of risk management guidelines for decision-makers involved in the tourism industry operating during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.