The effect of COVID-19 on employee psychology in tourism

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic affects the tourism industry not only in terms of demand, but also in terms of the physiological and psychological health of employees. Due to temporary closure of businesses and restrictions on travel, there has been a rise in loneliness, stress, depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Factors such as vague instructions, increased workload, worsening of the consequences of errors, and intervention in the home life of employees can create stress among employees. Face-to-face communication with customers causes anxiety because of the risk of getting sick and infecting family/friends. This anxiety can decrease the performance of employees and even result in leaving work. In this context, it is important to determine what needs to be done to protect the psychological health of employees in the tourism industry and to provide psychological resilience against new outbreaks that may arise in the future. © Dogan Gursoy, Mehmet Sarıışık, Robin Nunkoo and Erhan Boğan 2021.