The impact of COVID-19 on the events management industry : examining events in Qatar

Abstract EN

Corona virus disease 2019, noted as COVID-19, is a severe virus that started in China, which affects mainly the respiratory system.

Its danger relies in its high transmission tendency, which led to lockdowns of countries, stopping international airports, and cancellation of events, activities or any meetings including groupings of people, in order to maintain social distancing.

In return, several industries in the world encountered a severe decline.

The following research aims to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the event management industry, based on the most important part of it, which are the tourism and hotel industries, taking into consideration the case study of St.

Regis Hotel, Doha.

To reach the aim of the research, previous studies were gathered as secondary data.

The research followed a qualitative approach, conducting an interview with four key managers from St.

Regis Hotel, Doha.

Findings revealed the consequences of COVID-19 on the tourism industry, the main plans followed by hotel to fight this pandemic and the main course of actions to be applied for the recovery strategy.

Moreover, the importance of this research relies within the key lessons learned from this pandemic, and the changes it will bring to businesses in its future working conduct, mainly prioritizing the health of stakeholders and planning additional activities and events.