Covid-19 Impact on Tourism of Swat Valley Pakistan

Abstract

The current qualitative study regarding socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry was conducted in Tehsil Babuzai, district Swat. The region is having a great potential in tourism industry. Purposive sampling method was adopted and in-depth interviews were conducted with nine hotel managers in tehsil Babuzai to gather information about tourism industry’s condition before, during and after the pandemic. Narrative analysis method was adopted to draw findings and conclusion on the basis of collected data. The findings showed that the local tourism industry which was a major contributor to regional economy and employment before pandemic suffered various travel restrictions, business shutdown and a complete lockdown in the area. This led a huge decline in the number of tourists, causing the financial failure to hotels, unemployment of hotel workers and disruption of tourism related businesses and operations. However, the study concluded that tourism rebuild after the restrictions were lifted and gradual increase in the number of tourists and tourism related activities were began. The research highlighted governmental support and intervention to minimize the impact of future events on tourism sector.