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Home > Databases > Library > Rapid Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of COVID-19 on Bhutan's Tourism Sector

Rapid Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of COVID-19 on Bhutan's Tourism Sector

May 2020
Source: 
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

This Rapid Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (RSEIA) was carried out with an objective to gain a quick understanding of the overall nature of impact of the COVID-19 crisis on tourism and affiliated sectors and the impact the pandemic has had on individuals engaged in the sector. It was aimed at finding out the social and economic vulnerabilities of the affected individuals, their coping abilities, and alternative employment preferences. This assessment uses data from 1,285 individuals engaged in tourism and affiliated sectors. It covers their financial situation and short-term coping strategies as well as their interest in alternative employment and re-skilling to facilitate sustaining their livelihoods or making career moves.

The report discusses several recommendations to consider when planning the response and recovery of the tourism-related job losses in view of the need for a robust ‘exit strategy’ from the interventions currently in place.
 
Strategies for immediate relief must focus on identifying and protecting the most vulnerable groups such as cottage and small enterprises, the self-employed, individuals with limited coping mechanisms, women, and youth. At the same time, they must help create survival mechanisms for businesses that provide employment for tens of thousands of Bhutanese. There will be a need of urgent fiscal and monetary measures that help protect jobs, sustain the self-employed, support companies' liquidity and operations and help accelerate recovery in the future. Following are a few recommendations for the immediate term:
  • Improve institutional coordination and synergies across programmes.
  • Prioritise and target households/individuals who have a vulnerable member(s) to support in providing relief and alternative employment opportunities. 
  • Support re-skilling and upgrading within the tourism sector itself. 
  • Create win-win support to food security, green investments and those returning to rural areas/farms. 
  • Design employment and re-skilling programs with gender-sensitive lens. 
  • Support liquidity and operations of affected tourism-related businesses.
  • Set up Public-Private Partnerships and other partnerships for skilling, building, and upgrading infrastructure.
Beyond the immediate relief, the strategies for economic recovery in the medium to long term must consider aspects of sustainability, resilience, and equity. In order to create additional synergies and resilience in light of the impact of the pandemic, following are few further recommendations for formulating measures to build back better:
  • Align alternative employment and re-skilling programs with the future requirement of labour and skills as per the economic vision for the country, while seeking active input from potential employers.
  • Introduce complementary policies and measures to sustain the re-skilling and economic diversification measures. 
  • Make strategic investments in rural Bhutan and in those individuals who wish to relocate. 
  • Build resilience and sustainability into the future of tourism. 
  • Strengthen social and environmental sustainability aspects into the Bhutanese economy, with a special focus on building resilience of all sectors including tourism.
  • Innovate policy solutions to address the grave debt burden of business owners in the tourism sector while working with the financial sector to avoid undermining its viability.
  • Build robust, shock-responsive social protection schemes; as well as encourage a saving culture. 
  • Build systems to allow for continuous real time tracking of people’s socio-economic situation and multidimensional vulnerabilities; and improve analysis of social impact on vulnerable groups nationally.
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Countries: 
Bhutan
Regions: 
Asia
Sectors: 
Tourism
Themes: 
Jobs, COVID-19
Key search terms: 
livelihoods, re-skilling

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