The interplay of the COVID-19 pandemic: Analyzing the dual impacts on tourism dynamics and economic growth

The tourism sector is one of the industries that has been hit the hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The crisis caused by Covid-19 in the world but also in the countries of the region, has mostly affected the tourism sector, as well as other sectors related to tourism, namely, the hotel industry, crafts and transport but also investments in construction and numerous other projects, both in the public and private sectors. The purpose of this paper is to see the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the tourism sector and economic growth. Since tourism was one of the most affected sectors and almost.all tourist centers were closed, the impact on this sector is very large, causing high losses. Meanwhile, the transformative potential and the implications for sustainable policies in the development of the tourism sector have also been presented. For this research, two data sources were used, primary and secondary. Primary data was collected through the questionnaire, which was designed for this purpose. Meanwhile, secondary data have been collected through various reports of credible institutions such as the Kosovo Statistics Agency, scientific articles and other sources that have conducted research relevant to our paper. After collecting the necessary data through concrete analysis, the role and importance of each value was examined. The research with secondary data was carried out during the pandemic period, while 100 respondents participated in the questionnaire. The findings from the analysis of the research show that in 2021 there is a large decrease in tourists in Kosovo from all countries, but that the Republic of Kosovo with the development and application of its policies, especially for the gastronomy sector by easing taxes, offering subsidies for employee salaries, rents, etc. The Republic of Kosovo achieves a recovery of the industry sector, thus significantly increasing the number of tourists throughout the year 2022. Meanwhile, from the results of the research, we saw that the businesses with a tourist character in Kosovo are quite affected by the pandemic, but they hope for help in the form of different from the government to overcome this challenge as easily as possible. The findings from the regression analysis show that in cases where the government has applied measures to limit travel and close borders for tourists, the impact on economic growth has been negative.