Literature review assessment for factor affecting Hotel Customer Satisfaction

This literature review discusses how the tourism industry in Thailand, Russia and

South Africa is coping with the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. This is

crucial for the tourism industry as it is one of the most sensitive sectors in any crisis (Chirwa

et al., 2021).

The study by Pongsakornrungsilp et al. (2021) explores how brand crisis

communication theory and management theory can be used to help Thai tourism

companies overcome difficulties. The authors develop detailed solutions based on

realistic situations in an attempt to revive the Thai tourism industry. Their findings

show that only the big brands succeeded in staying in business after the crisis. This

suggests that a well-thought-out management plan and a strong brand can indeed help

a company overcome a crisis. However, the study presented strategies for the

development of local tourism businesses in Thailand and the respondent group was

made up of people working in the tourism industry who lacked the ideas of tourism

consumers. Therefore, the limitations of this study are the geographical limitations

which only covers Thailand, which is only a small part of the world.

Similarly focusing on the importance of management, Sheresheva et al.’s (2021) study of the Russian tourism industry also showed that Russian tourism leaders were very focused on teamwork and employee empowerment during this period. The reason for this is that they also believe that being able to offer a strong brand will survive the crisis and allow them to better adapt to new market conditions. However, the study’s small sample only consisted of interviews with a small number of managers from a small region of Russia, therefore is not very representative of other relevant interested stakeholders.

In contrast, Chirwa et al.’s (2021) study of the outlook for the South African

tourism industry found that it struggled in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis and

that government regulations had a significant negative impact on the financial

position of the industry. This suggests that government support is crucial to the

tourism industry and that it is almost impossible to achieve business development if

there is not mutual trust between the two parties. However, the limitations of this

study lie in the geographical limitations, as well as the limitations of the research

methodology, as this policy situation does not apply to every country or region.

Furthermore, there is a need to diversify the methodology of the case study in order to

try to obtain relatively objective results. This could be achieved by using qualitative

methods to get more in-depth meanings from the data collected.

Additionally, Santiago et al. (2021) found that family-run tourism and hospitality enterprises in the Philippines often partnered with other firms to navigate the effects of pandemic restrictions. These businesses typically employed more seasonal staff before the restrictions, thereby circumventing hiring during the constrained period. In contrast, non-family businesses (NFBs), typically larger and better managed with a stable workforce, leaned towards operational streamlining for heightened efficacy. The research’s limitations centre on survey distribution online, potentially overlooking firms without access to survey links, which causes inherent bias.

In conclusion, the above findings suggest that tourism business operators should

not only focus on branding, but also develop flexible marketing approaches. They

should also focus on communicating with government departments to build trust and

mutual understanding and support in difficult situations, while also considering business ownership. However, future research needs to be done on broader topics, such as employee contribution to obtain more all-inclusive results and to improve the usefulness of the research. It is also important to do more research on different topics in other countries around the world in order to get more accurate answers, as different countries have different business

environments and tourism products.

Reference List

Chirwa, P. W., Kamwi, J. M., Kabia, G., Makhubele, L., Sagona, W., Matakala, N., &

Gondo, P. (2021). The impacts of covid-19 on the sustainable management of the

forestry sector in southern Africa. International Forestry Review, 23(3), 298–308.

https://doi.org/10.1505/146554821833992785

Pongsakornrungsilp, S., Pongsakornrungsilp, P., Kumar, V., & Maswongssa, B. (2021).

The art of survival: tourism businesses in Thailand recovering from covid-19

through brand management. Sustainability, 13(12), 6690–6690.

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126690.

Santiago, A., Roxas, F. M., Rivera, J. P., & Gutierrez, E. L. (2022). Coping mechanisms of Philippine tourism and hospitality family businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic: a non-parametric approach. Journal of Family Business Management, 12(3), 513-537.

Sheresheva, M., Efremova, M., Valitova, L., Polukhina, A., & Laptev, G. (2021).

Russian tourism enterprises’ marketing innovations to meet the Covid-19

challenges. Sustainability, 13(7), 3756–3756. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073756