Analyzing the Economic Impact of COVID-19 on the Growth of Hospitality Industry in Rwanda: A Case of Radisson Blu Hotel and Kigali Convention Center

Nshimiyimana Jean Paul
Rwanda Polytechnic, IPRC Huye, Rwanda
Email: nshimejeanpaul2008@yahoo.fr

The general objective of the study was to assess the economic impact of COVID-19 to the growth of hotel industry in Rwanda. This study was guided by the following specific objectives: to assess the impact of COVID-19 to the employees’ welfare, to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the development and to identify the impact of COVID-19 to the stakeholders at Radisson Blu Hotels and Convention Center. This research was descriptive. The total population was 150 people and the sample size was 60 respondents. The research used universal sampling technique for choosing the respondents. The main findings for first objective revealed that 62.8% of the respondents agreed that COVID-19 has caused the management to reduce the salaries and wages of employees. Also, 44.2% strongly agreed and 55.8% agreed that COVID-19 has decreased the employees’ welfare. For the second objective, 41.9% of respondents strongly agreed and 58.1% agreed that COVID-19 affected the development by decreasing hotel occupancy rate, whereas 32.6% strongly agreed and 67.4% agreed that COVID19 reduced the number of customers reflecting the reduction of revenues. On the last objective, 30.2% strongly agreed and 69.8% agreed that COVID-19 led to reduce the number of suppliers. So COVID-19 has affected negatively the growth of hotel sector. The hotels should look at different strategies that can help them to sort out the problems caused by COVID-19 pandemic.