IMPACT OF COVID-19 AND QUARANTINE RESTRICTIONS ON HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The article seeks to explore the impact of the COVID-19 infectious disease pandemic on the Ukrainian hospitality industry along with providing an overview of the major changes in the nature and operation of hotel and restaurant businesses in the face of quarantine restrictions. The statistics data were obtained from the Ukrainian research papers and scientific journals in hospitality management and open Internet sources. To attain the objectives of this study, theoretical generalization and the comparative research methods have been employed. The article offers a loss of profit assessment for Ukrainian foodservice companies and hotels in the national lockdown period from March to May 2020 and during the quarantine restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings demonstrate that the revenues of foodservice companies in March amounted to about 69%, in April – 26% compared to February 2020 indicators. In May, restaurants increased their profits up to 50% against the pre-crisis rate, which is associated primarily with easing of quarantine restrictions and the permission to serve their customers on summer terraces. However, most hotels and their infrastructure facilities were forced to suspend their operation. The study also resumes the information on regulatory changes along with mandatory anti-epidemic preventive measures in the hospitality sector operation. A special emphasis is put that hotels and restaurants were challenged to promptly respond to quarantine restrictions in a very short period of time and build immediate strategies to retain their customers and clients. The authors present a range of international best practices on adaptation of hospitality industry to working in the quarantine restrictions settings. It is argued that the primary objective of the Ukrainian hospitality industry in in the short-term perspective is the implementation of modern innovative technologies. This will contribute to reducing human contact between customers and personnel in the hospitality sector, which is critically important in the context of infectious disease outbreaks and COVID-19 pandemic, in particular.