2020 年，由於新型冠狀病毒爆發，許多國家頒布了旅行限制和強制封鎖措施。這些干預措施影響了貝里斯中小微企業部門的經濟穩定性。更具體地說，是旅遊業中的中小微企業。這些為了防禦新型冠狀病毒的封鎖讓國際遊客人數急劇下滑，許多旅遊中小微企業在 2020 年經歷了停業和財務損失。更不用說他們中的大多數人不得不裁員、削減成本或創造多元化服務以度過這次經濟衰退。至此，本次的疫情大流行無疑為貝里斯的中小型旅遊企業創造了一個具有挑戰性的市場環境。故本研究旨在探究 COVID-19 對貝里斯旅遊中小微企業的影響，進一步探討他們的危機應對和恢復策略，以確保企業的持續營運。

本研究反映了來自貝里斯不同地區的 50 家中小型旅遊企業的觀點。根據調查結果，大多數參與的企業均受到了不利的影響，且正在試圖努力解決幾個相關議題，其中包括財務損失、業務減少以及收入和利潤的下降。本研究闡述了他們面對COVID-19的維繫營運計劃及來自公部門在爆發期間協助旅遊中小微企業的努力。研究人員還通過與旅遊利益相關者的三對一訪談來評估本主題。最後，研究者提供了能永續且重要的恢復建議。本研究所提供的訊息中，在透過政府的支援、有效的風險危機管理計畫與應變能力的建立發展，應有助於為中小微企業在建立其更有效的支持體制上帶來理想的幫助。

In 2020, many countries enacted travel restrictions and mandatory lockdowns because of the coronavirus outbreak. These interventions affected the economic stability of the MSMEs sector in Belize. More specifically, MSMEs in the tourism industry. Many tourism MSMEs experienced business closures and financial losses in 2020 due to the drastic decline in international tourist arrivals amid coronavirus lockdowns. Not to mention most of them had to lay off workers, cut costs, or diversify their services to weather this economic downturn. Hence, the pandemic undoubtedly created a challenging market environment to operate for small and medium tourism businesses in Belize. Henceforth, this study aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on tourism MSMEs in Belize. Furthermore, explore their crisis response and recovery strategies to ensure business continuity.

The study reflects the viewpoints of 50 small and medium-sized tourism businesses from different regions in Belize. According to the results, most participating companies have been adversely affected and are currently struggling with several issues, including financial loss, reduced demand, and decreased revenue and profit. The report addresses their business continuity plan in the face of COVID-19 and other public-sector efforts to assist tourism MSMEs during the outbreak. The researcher also used three one-on-one interviews with tourism stakeholders to evaluate the topic. Finally, the researcher provides recommendations for a sustainable and responsible recovery. The information presented in this paper should ideally aid in developing more efficient support mechanisms for tourism MSMEs through government assistance, effective crisis management planning, and the development of resilience capability building.

ABSTRACT I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT II
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES III
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 BACKGROUND 1
1.2 PROBLEM DISCUSSION 2
1.3 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 3
1.4 DELIMITATIONS 4
1.5 OUTLINE OF THESIS 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6
2.1 ECONOMIC CRISIS 6
2.2 MSMES SECTOR 6
2.3 CRISIS MANAGEMENT 8
2.4 FRAME OF REFERENCE 11
2.5 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 12
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 14
3.1 RESEARCH PURPOSE 14
3.2 RESEARCH APPROACH 15
3.3 DATA COLLECTION 15
3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 18
3.5 SUMMARY OF METHODOLOGY 19
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS/FINDINGS 20
4.1 EMPIRICAL DATA 20
4.2 DATA ANALYSIS 29
4.3 SUMMARY OF CRISIS MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 36
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION 38
5.1 SECTOR SPECIFIC FINDINGS 38
5.2 IMPLICATIONS ON TOURISM MSMES 39
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS 40
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 43
6.1 SUMMARY OF STUDY 43
6.2. LIMITATIONS 44
BIBLIOGRAPHY 45
APPENDIX A: SURVEY QUESTIONS & RESULTS 52
APPENDIX B: LIST OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 54

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