Highlights

Abstract

Graphical abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Travel and tourism a significant contributor to the global service industry

3. International tourism: regions contribution to the service industry

4. Global health crisis, social stigma, and mental health

5. Social stigma in the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health issues

6. Conclusions

Funding

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgments

Data for reference

References

Abstract

The study stipulates phases to observe the proposed mechanism in formulating the travel and leisure industry’s recovery strategies. The present pandemic COVID-19 has resulted in global challenges, economic and healthcare crises, and posed spillover impacts on the global industries, including tourism and travel that the major contributor to the service industry worldwide. The tourism and leisure industry has faced the COVID-19 tourism impacts hardest-hit and lies among the most damaged global industries. The leisure and internal tourism indicated a steep decline amounting to 2.86 trillion US dollars, which quantified more than 50% revenue losses. In the first step, the study explores the consequences and settings of the COVID-19 pandemic and how innovation and change can contribute to the tourism industry’s revival to the next normal. Thus, the study determines that tourism enterprises and scholars must consider and change the basic principles, main assumptions, and organizational situations related to research and practice framework through rebuilding and establishing the tourism sector. In the second step, the study discusses direct COVID-19 tourism impacts, attitudes, and practices in gaining the leisure industry’s boom and recovery. In the third phase, the study proposes to observe the characteristics and COVID-19 tourism consequences on the travel and tourism research. The findings provide insights in regaining the tourism industry’s operational activities and offer helpful suggestions to government officials, scholars, and tourism firms to reinvest in the tourism industry to set it back to a normal position.

1. Introduction

The appearance of the lethal disease COVID-19 has resulted in massive financial losses and caused global health and economic crises worldwide (Anderson et al., 2020; McKenna and Bargh, 1998; Brewer, 2016). The most frightening news of the seasonal influenza outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics, and catastrophes results in a steep decrease in the travel and tourism industry, a dominant contributor to the service industry (Abbas, 2021; Jones et al., 2015; Avery, 2010). The pandemics adversely impact tourists’ behaviors and their mental wellbeing (Aman et al., 2019; Bauer et al., 2021; Park et al., 2019). As a result, they drop their planned tour plans in fear of the disease infection, as it looks impossible to avoid transmission of the virus during travel (Mamirkulova et al., 2020; Avery, 2017; Meadows et al., 2019). Besides, tourists travel increases infection risk to other air passengers in the absence of effective vaccines (Su et al., 2021; Hu and Zhang, 2014; Reynolds and W.S., 2005; Tonsaker et al., 2014). Travelers play a significant role in transferring viruses, epidemics’, outbreaks, or pandemics between local communities’ destinations (Hollingsworth et al., 2006; Abbott, 2021; Zhong et al., 2021; Li et al., 2018). At present, the entire world is facing crisis communication in the media (Su et al., 2021). The adverse consequences of the COVID-19 on the travel and leisure industry resulted in novel viral disease appurtenance (Su et al., 2020). Infectious viruses are highly contagious, mutate rapidly and increase mortality (Local Burden of Disease, H.I.V.C. 2021).

Sport management is an applied field of study in which the knowledge and expertise needed to be successful is acquired both inside and outside of the classroom. The more opportunities students have to immerse themselves in practical and applied sport management experiences before graduation, the greater the likelihood they will be attractive to potential employers in the competitive field of sport management. In order to graduate sport management majors who will be competitive in the marketplace, educators must foster opportunities for them to participate in applied learning or experiential learning opportunities, primarily in the form of internships (Lee, Kane, Gregg, & Cavanaugh, 2016, p. 116). The significance of applied learning is illuminated by Moorman (2004), who suggests that no single step in the sport management career path is as valuable as an internship. Internships have become the modus operandi for most professional preparation programs in sport management in the United States and abroad, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels (DeLuca & Braunstein-Minkove, 2016; Stier & Schneider, 2000). In the United States, 86% of sport management programs have mandatory internship credits incorporated into their curriculum, and 77% of sport management programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral level have an experiential learning requirement (Jones, Brooks, & Mak, 2008; Schoepfer & Dodds, 2011). Additionally, an examination of sport management curriculum (Schoepfer & Dodds, 2011) revealed that internships were the most common curricular component in sport management programs. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE, 2016) Job Outlook Survey, relevant work experience continues to be an important consideration among employers when interviewing college graduates. Of those employers surveyed, 64.5% prefer to hire candidates with relevant work experience, and of those, 56% favor candidates who have acquired experience through an internship/co-op. Furthermore, the Sport Business Journal surveyed more than 2000 senior-level sport industry executives (in both professional and college sports) regarding the curricular requirements of sport management programs. Specifically, this survey found that executives in the sport industry rank the internship experience as the most valuable requirement (51%) of sport management programs, and they consider the internship essential to the success of a sport management program. In addition, seventy-four percent of the sport executives reported that internships/extracurricular activities carried the most weight when they evaluated entry-level candidates on paper (Sport Business Journal, 2015). Thus, relevant research demonstrates the importance of internships in establishing the credibility of the sports management program and in providing graduates with benefits that make them desirable to potential employers in the field. The purpose of this paper is to (1) provide an overview of the pertinent internship literature relative to sport management internships and experiential learning and (2) provide suggestions for enhancing the sport management internship. The recommendations for improving the internship process are, in part, grounded in Dewey’s experiential learning theory, which contends that “education must be based upon experience – which is always the actual life experience of some individual” (Dewey, 1938, p. 89).

According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), family vacations remain a priority for millions of families in the USA. These vacations include Spring Break, summer vacations and long holiday weekends throughout the 2017 calendar year for more than one third (35 percent) of American families; numbers consistent with 2016 and indicative that family vacations are not wavering. AAA reports that 70 percent of American families will take one or two family vacations, but also points out that 38 percent of American families plan to take three or more vacations this year; a 13 point increase from 2016. AAA’s Vice President of Travel and Publishing attributes the popularity of family vacations to the fact that “families continue to see the value of traveling as a way to bond and reconnect in today’s busy world.” Road trips with the family, as well as visits to national parks and theme parks remain the most popular domestic vacations, flooding hotel accommodations with millions of room nights annually. According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, more than $250 billion is spent by family leisure travelers annually on lodging accommodations. Family leisure travel continues to be a sizeable segment within the USA. However, it is unclear whether current product positioning and marketing strategies are correctly focused on this enduring target market. Popular trade news suggests that evolutions in leisure travel are focused on experiences as a way to differentiate resort accommodations. More commonly resorts seek to create a unique experience by leveraging the unique aspects of the local environment. Guests are immersed in scents, menus, excursions, and activities that are representative of the local area and that incorporate local communities and cultures (e.g. Hayward, 2005; Hotel News Now, 2016, p. 52). Market segmentation approaches have typically grouped individuals according to age, marital status, affiliation, travel purpose, and so on. However, recent research suggests that travelers within age groups have different needs and make different choices in vacation activity selection (Torres, 2015). Families, comprised of individuals of varying ages, are the primary visitors to resorts and due to the extended nature of resort vacations, individuals look to the resort to entertain their family and to provide experiences that reflect the local environment (Mill, 2011). Therefore, it is incumbent upon the resort to provide activities that are enjoyable and varied throughout the duration of the guests’ stays. Activities enhance vacations and satisfaction (Kim et al., 2012), however, the guest composition, as well as the strength of the guests’ interrelationships, may provide an alternate explanation for vacation satisfaction (Lehto et al., 2009) through family system theory. In addition, the cohesiveness of the various travel parties may be enhanced by activities; thereby leading to improvements in the overall guest experience, and by extending findings of prior research, perhaps improvements in societal outcomes. The phenomenon of family cohesion has been investigated in a variety of sociological contexts, with recent extension into the experiential context of family vacations (Lehto et al., 2009). However, current literature is limited in that it describes the factors of family cohesion and relates that to overall vacation satisfaction, but does not delve further into cause or explanation. To that end, this research examines the phenomena of family cohesion and its effect on overall vacation satisfaction. In addition, as an extension of existing research, this study delves into the moderating effect that travel party size may have on the aforementioned variables. Current research on family cohesion, leisure activity participation, and overall vacation satisfaction are devoid of investigation into travel party; despite identifying stronger relationships among larger travel parties (Lehto et al., 2012). In fact, on a larger scale, research appears to apply travel party as a descriptive term rather than an operative variable that when investigated may further inform academic inquiry and practical application.