1.Introduction

COVID -19 pandemic was one of the biggest humanitarian crisis faced by our world since World War II.Government imposed many lockdowns curb the virus's transmission have not stopped its widespread spread, and the number of cases which were growing every day.This directly effected th economy of the couuntries and agriculture value chain saw significant difficulties during the early stages of the lockdown, despite the exemption of certain agricultural activity. Several nations have been forced to implement a range of measures to safeguard their citizens as a result of the global shock caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.More than 170 nations have declared plans to implement social assistance programs, which can take the shape of vouchers, in-kind food distribution programs, or cash-based transfers.[1]The effect on supply chains and income wad significant and became unpredictable. The global tourist industry is greatly impacted by decisions made on the closure of hotels, restaurants, theme parks, movie theaters, and other establishments. Together, operators and investors are attempting to manage working capital and cash flow concerns while maintaining strong relationships with their stakeholders.

2.How does the Hospitality Industry become an important factor in contributing to a Countries economy and How it was affected due to COVID-19?

Hospitality Industry includes all commercial and economic endeavors that either directly or indirectly support travel and tourism. Businesses with a hospitality focus, such as hotels and travel companies, make a direct contribution by offering necessary services that make travel and tourism possible.The hospitality sector encompasses a wide range of enterprises, professionals, and enterprises which include Travel and Tourism,Acommodation,Food ,Bevarages Industry,Entertainmnet Industries.[2]All of these were drastically effected during the lockdown of COVID-19 period as there were serious restrictions for travelling and going outide to theaters for entertainmennt due to the threat of virus and decread the overall GDP of the counreies it effcted.The market equilibrium, in which the amount of supply and demand in the market is equal wa s effected by the COVID-19 pandemic as it raised a certain amount of "panic" among people, which lowered demand generally in the travel and hotel sector. Scientists were presurrised to find a vaccine by the Governments as soon as possible to stop the post-pandemic decline in demand for travel and hospitality services.

The COVID-19 effected on tourist and hospitality of countries like Turkey with their overall revenue loss for being $1.5 billion in the best-case scenario and $15.2 billion in the worst-case scenario in the COVID-19 year.In India,the ecomic losess costed the country over $28 billion in lost revenue by 2020 and 70% fewer jobs in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Priyadarshini predicted that the global revenues for the tourism and hospitality sector will decline by 17% from 2019 to 2020and real global GDP growth will decrease from 2.9% in 2019 to 2.4% by the end of 2020. Additionally, the report projects that the regions of North America, Europe, and Asia will suffer the greatest reductions in worldwide revenue. The United States, Germany, Italy, and China will see declines in tourist and hospitality revenues of10%,10%,24%, and 40%, respectively.[3]

3.COVID-19 Impact On Food and Agriculture and Public Distribution System (PDS)

Providing food security has been one of the most urgent demands for emerging nations, and nowhere was that felt more strongly than in India, home to 1.4 billion people.One of the main reason why the supply food chain was not drastically declined was beacuse of the Public Distribution System (PDS), a program run by the Department of Food and Public Distribution that offers subsidized food grains to about (approx) 810 million people each month.The government of India announced food safety programs in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.Other programs like the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package (ANB) for migrants and Stranded Migrants and the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) for NFSA beneficiaries were introduced in India to alleviate the hardships faced by the poor and vulnerable beneficiaries as a result of the economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

During the epidemic, the government committed to giving all recipients twice as much grain as usual, increasing the amount of pulses provided, and making everything free for eight months. Additionally, it disclosed a distinct distribution of pulses and grains for migrant laborers.Approximately 810 million people receive food security through the Department of Food and Public Distribution's Public Distribution System, which distributes more than 4 million metric tonnes of food grains each month.[4]With almost 10 percent of the global population enrolled, this initiative stands out as the greatest food assistance program in the world during the pandemic. With an estimated cost of $20 billion, or Rs 1.5 trillion, it would also be the highest program in terms of value among similar nations. According to estimates from the World Bank, social assistance programs in 29 low-and middle-income countries cost about $55 billion.More than 170 nations have unveiled social assistance policies, ranging from in-kind initiatives to cash-based payments.

Local farmers suffer as a result of agricultural subsidies because of the restriction from COVID-19 pandemic that have an impact on international markets and lead to an increase in inexpensive imported goods in third-world countries. They also compete with the low employment.Consequently, this leads to a rise in unemployment and poverty among the lower class, particularly in developing nation due to the negative impact of COVID -19.The public distribution system (PDS) is also recommended by WHO internationally to ensure that food, particularly the primary components, is delivered to those from the lower parts of society at a fair price.The supplier (farmer), central warehouse, capital city warehouse, small city warehouse, and fair pricing shop make up the entire supply chain network of PDS. Food products are sold at fair price stores (FPS) in both rural and urban areas, and they do so at a competitive price. The PDS organization looks at a few different types of transportation-related issues (trucks and local transportation) during a lockdown, such as the lack of workers for loading and unloading and the closing of businesses.[5]

4.Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic and its negative effect on both food and Hospitality Industry has taught us to be ready in the future for any pandemics or disasters etc, which will food supply chain and Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of Countries.The hospitality industry's recovery and resilience, customer safety, market demand, the emergence of a new market because of the governmental responses to COVID-19 can only occur by the use new technology in the hospitality sector to safeguard both clients and employees and the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to create a more resilient tourist and hospitality sector.Due to COVID-19, there are now limitations on labor movement, shifts in consumer demand, closed food production facilities, limited food trade rules, and financial strains on the food supply chain which can only be overcome when more relevant governmant policies, programmes like PDS should be introduced by countries to sell safely to the people in fair prices with obligatory standards and a relevant framework of legislation to guarantee the continuity of food flow to all corners of a country.

Citations

1.India's Food Security Response to COVID-19,available at https://www.microsave.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Indias-food-security-response-to-COVID-19.pdf (Decemebr 19,2023)

2.Kim Campbell;"What Is the Hospitality Industry? Your Complete Guide" ,available at https://www.cvent.com/en/blog/hospitality/what-is-the-hospitality-industry (Decemebr 19,2023)

3.The Hospitality Industry in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Current Topics and Research Methods,available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7601428/ (Decemebr 19,2023)

4.Supra note 1

5.Impact of COVID-19 in food supply chain: Disruptions and recovery strategy,available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666518221000048 (Decemebr 19,2023)