This article presents a comprehensive overview of research conducted in the hospitality and tourism sectors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact. It identifies crucial viewpoints and themes related to the recovery and resilience of these industries and proposes recommendations to address the organizational and consumer behavior shifts resulting from the pandemic. Employing a critical reflective approach, this study discerns, selects, and consolidates pertinent research to derive its recommendations. It introduces a contemporary framework centered around three main themes emerged from existing research on COVID-19’s effects on hospitality and tourism: management, marketing, and consumer behavior. Additionally, the article furnishes actionable suggestions for organizations to navigate and rebound from the pandemic’s repercussions, guiding the industry towards sustained long-term resilience. Moreover, the paper provides an up-to-date synthesis of chosen literature and theories that scrutinize the significant implications of the pandemic for the recovery and fortification of the hospitality and tourism sectors. Since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 (WHO, 2020), these sectors have encountered unparalleled challenges. Subsequently, governmental restrictions and measures like lockdowns, social distancing, and mobility constraints were implemented to mitigate the pandemic’s adverse impacts. These measures substantially disrupted the demand for hospitality and tourism, leading to the temporary closure of numerous businesses in these domains (Bartik et al., 2020). This circumstance spawned promising research avenues for scholars to gain deeper insights into recovery strategies’ implementation in these sectors. Among the initial endeavors in this direction, Gössling et al. (2020) conducted a comprehensive assessment of COVID-19’s influence on hospitality and tourism during the pandemic’s early stages. Subsequently, Donthu and Gustafsson (2020) explored pandemic-related challenges across various industries, including tourism and hospitality, focusing on changes in consumer behavior, ethical considerations, and organizational conduct. However, given the disproportionate impact on hospitality and tourism (Donthu and Gustafsson, 2020; ONS, 2021), and the industries’ transition to a post-pandemic phase, research emphasis shifted to recovery and resilience-building (Fotiadis et al., 2021). This pivot necessitated a current synthesis of pertinent research addressing COVID-19’s implications for hospitality and tourism. Consequently, the primary objective of this critical reflection paper is to delve into the organizational and consumer behavior transformations triggered by the pandemic, with a particular emphasis on their future implications for the hospitality and tourism sectors.
