One of the industries that were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic is the tourism industry where individuals' economic wellbeing was impacted. The fact that the industry is fickle was greatly affected since the virus's spread involved traveling and making contact. Recently, the industry has experienced tremendous growth that has boosted the countries' economic status that host tourists. The sector also plays a vital role in promoting local products and culture depicted in various sustainable development goals. Consequently, the industry is a significant driver on numerous employment opportunities that encompass women and young individuals. Globally, the sector contributed to 330 million jobs in 2019, which accounts for 10.3 percent of the average global employment ("Pandemics, tourism and global change: A rapid assessment of COVID-19," 2020).

The pandemic outbreak has an immense impact on the industry, as depicted by ILO statistics, which estimates that more than 305 million jobs were lost as a result (Ulak, 2020). It's also worth noting that both domestic and international tourism was affected. At the peak of the outbreak, domestic tourism was impacted since over half of the world population was constrained by containment measures. It resulted from the indefinite suspension of operations of cruise ships, airlines, restaurants, hotels, and tour operators. As of March 2020, the pandemic earned a spectacular position as the world's most challenging tragedy since world war II.

However, domestic tourism is expected to recover faster in comparison to international tourism. The paper presents an interview with Mr. Johnson, which is not his real name, who worked as a local private tour guide in New Orleans. He has an outstanding knowledge of both the history and culture of New Orleans that secured him a permit.

Before the pandemic, Mr. Johnson used to earn a salary of $24.35 per hour. The job working hours vary from 8-12 hours a day, which depends on the year (Hall et al., 2020). During the busiest time of the year, Mr. Johnson would work for 15 hours with three days off between the tours. Consequently, most of the week during the busy times, he worked for seven days a week, where he would turn around for another tour after staying for the day. The implication is that the income was high, and he could sustain his family without much strain. However, after the outbreak, which turned out to be a virtual economic standstill globally, things changed. During the first days, the strain was not much since he could utilize his savings. However, two months after the travels were bared, and his job came to a halt, he could hardly make ends meet, as he explains.

Consequently, the job could not be conducted from home since it involves direct interaction with the tourists. With a family consisting of four kids and a housewife, life was hardly bearable. After the shutdown, the expectation was that there would be disbursements to cater to his family's needs, which was not the case. However, during the period, they were still hoping that it would be sent. The outcome is that he had to resort to a temporary job after being laid-off that consisted of selling food to make a dwindling income.

As the pandemic surged in March, Johnson had no job due to the shutdown experienced in many parts of the united states. The flights had been suspended altogether, which meant that domestic and international tourism had been canceled. The implication is that the hope of resuming ended; thus, the change was quite huge. The changes that occurred to Mr. Johnson's economic life depict what happened to other working sectors (Gössling et al., 2020).

Consequently, there was no demand for tour guides, which meant a complete shutdown for the industry for almost all employees, which encompassed Mr. Johnson.

To qualify as a tour guide, the minimum requirement is a high school diploma or equivalent certificate. However, the requirements for tour guides vary among various tour companies. For instance, for Mr. Johnson's case, a bachelor's degree in a field related to the tours he gave was a requisite requirement. Consequently, the private company he used to work for provided its recruits an on-the-job training that also encompassed safety training. Since the job also contains direct interaction with the tourists, practical communication skills are an absolute requirement. Besides, one must be organized, ethical, and punctual while conducting a tour. The implication is that exceptional time management skills are a requisite that ensure ample time to guide tourists through the toured areas and give pertinent information. Mr. Johnson also told us that it's an added advantage to speak multiple languages as he did since various tourists speak different languages. The implication is that some skills, such as language, are transferable while others, like the acquisition of a degree, requires one to attend college and undergo the necessary studies (Ulak, 2020). Thus, after the company reopens, it might be challenging to get employees, such as Mr. Johnson, if he fails to go back.

In the private company that Mr. Johnson used to work for, every employee had been given a specified identity, which enabled them to log into the company's information from their computers. When the pandemic surged, they were notified through their dashboards where they are informed and a direct message sent to their phones. The method was effective since some employees were expecting to engage in a tour in a few days while others were amid excursions.

The notifications played a vital role in ensuring that the tour guides who were amid the tours, such as Mr. Johnson, communicate effectively to those they were guiding on the various reasons why the tours were canceled. Consequently, the tourists were also advised on the preventive measures that could keep them safe.

Despite being given a prevalence pay not being mandatory as stipulated by the constitution, Mr. Johnson was accorded. However, Mr. Johnson explained that not all employees who received the payment while for others, it was delayed. Therefore, he had an advantage, which he associated with having been an employee of the company since it came to existence 15 years ago. He stated that it was the funds that he had saved that was added to severance pay to enable him to acquire a food store that was allowed to operate at the peak of the pandemic.

Consequently, access to his health insurance was also affected since the company no longer paid for it. Amid the epidemic, only a few employees worked for the company that Mr. Johnson could quickly mention by names from the information and communication department.

Mr. Johnson was among the few employees who resumed work as employees in the company with eight others as tour guides. However, their pay was lower in comparison to their previous salary. The company attributed the salary reduction to the few tourists who booked chances to be guided within the area. Consequently, approximately 90 percent of the tourists were local whose pay was much less than the payments made by international tourists according to the company's regulations. Besides, most employees who were laid off during the pandemic have encountered challenging moments.  It includes securing positions similar to those before the layoff. Mr. Johnson gave an example of one of the employees who was his friend and used to communicate with him after he returned to work but was not among the selected employees. He narrated that the friend had tried online applications for a job as a tour guide, which never went through.

Furthermore, Johnson also tried to give him referrals to aid him in attending interviews in other companies but in vain.  Johnson drew from the incident that other companies had also suffered in the same way he had suffered (Hall et al., 2020). Consequently, it was evident that the management could prefer giving a chance to an employee formerly their before the new applicants despite their outstanding qualifications.

For individuals like Johnson, who resumed work, were advised to stay at home and work from there where he could be contacted in a client who needed his services. However, he told us that he was still on the company's payroll, which implied that the stipulated salary was still in place regardless of being at home. He also lamented how his job experience had dramatically taken a new turn ranging from how he was guided to conduct the tour. For instance, among the duties he was accorded is providing guidance to the tourist on preventive measures to deter the spread of the COVID-19 virus before commencing any tour that includes social distancing (Hall et al., 2020). Consequently, he is also mandated to regularly check on the client's temperature after a particular duration, which is rather challenging as others take the pandemic to have ended since its effects have subsided in various sectors.

In the sector, Johnson is among the essential employees since he conducts the on-site job.

He mentioned, though, with some uncertainty that his experience played a considerable role in his employer considering him. Consequently, he stated that most of the tourists he had attended left positive comments on his performance. Thus he also made us aware that there were plenty of issues considered before an employee in his department was contacted to resume their duties. The implication is that the employer made a lot of consideration before any employee was contacted. Furthermore, strict compliance measures have been enacted where every department has lamented on the issue but with little to do.

Individuals within the tourism sector who are self-employed have also been affected where others seem to give less weight on resuming to the business. For instance, Johnson gave an example of his close acquaintance whom they had been employed together but decided to start his own business. He mentioned that the friend had several cars which he previously used for carrying tourists. However, he converted several of them into public transportation means upon reopening the restrictions put into place due to the pandemic. He said that the epidemic had placed the sector and his job in an unstable condition, which prompted him to invest in other businesses. According to the observation, Johnson had made the industry resume but at a slow pace compared to other sectors such as the manufacturing industries. However, a survey shows that the tourism industries will continue despite the companies' challenges and self-employed individuals (Gössling et al., 2020).

References

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