Differential Impacts of COVID-19 on College Student Tourism Jobs: Insights from Vacationland-Maine, USA

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected all sectors including educational institutions transitioning from face-to-face to hybrid and virtual classes. Partial or full closure of tourism businesses has impacted college students’ jobs within the college and/or outside in the business sector. For a tourism dependent economy such as Maine’s, the impacts of COVID-19 have been severe, including lost job opportunities for students. Several studies have researched the impacts of COVID-19 on the physical, psychological, social, and mental health status of college students; however, few have addressed the impacts on college students’ jobs. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand how students at the University of Southern Maine (USM) have been impacted in their jobs by COVID-19 and to consider what stakeholders can do to support and rebuild the workforce. A quantitative survey was distributed to all USM undergraduate students (completed by 160) between 26 April through 6 May 2021. The study found that pre-COVID, 44% of student employment was in non-tourism, 25% in tourism, and 16% in USM work study, while 15% were unemployed. At the time of the survey, those proportions had shifted to 42% in non-tourism, 22% in tourism, 14% in USM work study, and 22% not employed with a significant increase in the non-employed student category. The study found that, initially, COVID-19 had impacted student employment in terms of changed responsibilities, reduced hours, job layoffs/losses, increased hours, and voluntary job loss. Students’ current jobs (during the survey) were impacted in the form of changed responsibilities/jobs/locations and industries, including decreased hours. During the pandemic, students valued industry support such as enhanced cleaning/safety, flexible hours/time off, work from home, as well as academic support in terms of flexibility, emotional support, industry updates, and networking opportunities. The study recommends that stakeholders develop collaborative comprehensive emergency management plans (CEMPs) to mitigate disruptions such as COVID-19 and be prepared for future disasters of this nature.