Analysing the mechanism of post-Covid survival of local Maltese travel agencies and tour operators

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how local Maltese travel agencies and tour operators recovered in the post-covid period. Various strategies which were implemented by Maltese authorities for tourism and travel organisations’ recovery were analysed. This also includes the post-covid effects of tourists’ push and pull factors on Maltese travel agencies and tour operators. A total of eight semi-structured interviews were carried out with different local Maltese travel agencies and tour operators. A thorough comparison of the responses given was examined. The emergent themes were: the issues during COVID-19 regarding employment and sales, the strategies implemented by the companies, the importance of technology and e-commerce in the travel and tourism industry, the push factors and transition to long-haul flights, the increased confidence, and lastly, the challenges and lessons learned. The results showed that ultimately the travel and tourism industry, in general, has been through the most unexpected catastrophe, yet eye-opening experience up to date. Although it has not been easy to recover from the pandemic, lots of travel and tourism businesses sought to reinvent themselves as a result of all of the lessons that were learnt from COVID-19. Therefore, this allowed companies to further improve and grow their business through numerous strategies which have been implemented. Throughout this study, various arguments were built by which some were in agreement with the academic literature found, yet others were not. Hence, this allowed for a deeper analysis and enrichment of data from the supply side. The conclusions reached implied some minor gaps which were filled by the eight semi-structured interviews that were conducted.