The disruption of the pandemic in the use of hospitality establishments and services in South Africa

Abstract

The tourism and hospitality sectors were among the most negatively impacted industries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many studies have reflected on the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism and hospitality industry; however, more needs to be written about the effect on the customers. Therefore, this paper aims to report if COVID-19 has affected the use of hospitality establishments and service customers during and after the lockdown in South Africa. This was a cross-sectional quantitative study. Google Forms were used for data collection using snowball and convenience sampling techniques. Seven hospitality establishment categories (Bed and breakfast, guesthouses, hotels, Airbnb, sit-down restaurants, fast food outlets, and wine farms) and two hospitality services (Catering services and delivery services) participated in the study. Data were analysed using SPSS version 26 and presented using descriptive statistics. Demographic data was introduced to give an overview of all the respondents. Most respondents were female (64%) and Africans (69%). Most respondents were employees (49%), earning salaries ranging between R5000 and R50 000. Most customers indicated that they continued to use these establishments and services during the lockdown and were willing to continue doing so post-lockdown. In terms of salaries versus the categories of establishments, customers who earned less visited establishments the most. However, it was observed that customers who visited restaurants were from all salary ranges (brackets). This indicates that customers always continue visiting hospitality establishments and utilising hospitality services. This affirms the importance of the hospitality industry in the social and economic space.