Dr Roya Rahimi-Reader in Marketing and Leisure Management Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Career Anxiety of Future Tourism Workforce in the UK

Before the pandemic, the tourism industry in the UK was one of the fastest-growing sectors and it was predicted that its value could reach £257bn by 2025. After the pandemic, there was a decline of 76% in the inbound visit, 73% in international arrivals, and a decline of 80% in spending. This represents a loss of 32.3 million visits and £24.7 billion in spending which in turn puts 3 million jobs at risk (VisitBritain, 2021). This uncertainty and the disruption to social and economic systems resulted in numerous impacts on the current and future workforce of the tourism industry. The stress of finding jobs and sustaining existing jobs can form career-related anxiety among the current and future workforce of the tourism industry.

Dr. Rahimi and her colleagues in their recent research investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and career perspectives of the tourism students as the future workforce of the tourism industry in the UK. The research is based on theories of emotion and focuses on the interplay role of fear, depression, and future career anxiety. Using a mixed-method approach, the research tried to answer two core questions 1) What is the effect of COVID-19 on the mental health of the future tourism workforce in the UK?  2) How does COVID-19 impact the career perspective of current tourism students in the UK?

Results of the study showed that most students suffer from some form of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. These mental health issues have long effects which influence the quality of life and the job performance. Furthermore, the result showed that fear of COVID-19 consequences causes depression which positively contributes to career anxiety among the current and future workforce of the tourism industry. Tourism students’ depression from COVID-19 partially mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and future career anxiety. The results also indicated that due to COVID-19, female and married tourism students have more future career anxiety than males. Furthermore, students with previous work experience in the industry have less hope for their future careers as they can the decline of the industry and how challenging it takes to recover.

When it comes to the industry implications, tourism and hospitality organizations must be aware of these challenges and take actions to change their policy and practice to make reasonable adjustments and identify the psychological processes that can help to protect the well-being and psychological health of their staff and organization.  The senior management team also needs to understand and support these processes. Different strategies such as allowing flexible schedules, simplifying work scope, sharing deadlines as needed and focusing on positive outcomes, and criticizing less can also be applied to support staff with mental health issues.

To access the full paper in the University of Wolverhampton Repository, follow the below link on WIRE: https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/624751