Investigation of the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on travel business: The case of Hatay

The Covid'19 epidemic, which first appeared in China and then spread to the whole world and became a global problem, seriously affected the tourism sector. As a result of this situation, travel businesses, which are an important branch of the tourism sector, were also adversely affected by the epidemic. This study was carried out to examine the effect of Covid-19 on travel businesses. In this direction, semi-structured interviews were conducted with business managers. The interviews were conducted face to face between 27/05/2021 and 31/05/2021. Content analysis was applied to the obtained data. As a result of the study, it was determined that the businesses were negatively affected economically and psychologically in the Covid-19 epidemic, they had to lay off their personnel, and some businesses were closed or downsized. In addition, tourist expectations and understanding of tourism have changed, tourists are more inclined towards private tours; It has been determined that nature, plateau and eco tourism-based tourism types are orientation.