Impact of Covid-19 and the importance of seamless integration of information technology in tourism industrial business processes in Sri Lanka

The tourism industry is one of the largest sectors within the service industries on a global scale which facing many challenges and has been enhancing business innovation accordingly. Considering the current COVID-19 global pandemic challenges has directed several countries to impose movement controls, the closure of the boundaries between countries, and travel limitations across the globe. The tourism industry is the most directly impacted industry among the other industries. Regardless of the size of the organization, the businesses are facing a high percentage of cancellations and business closure due to the downwards of the income. The systematic literature review has identified the gap in the lack of research as taken place to find the solution to overcome the current challenges. So the research study aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 and the importance of the IT and business processes integration as a solution to face the challenges in the tourism industry. The investigation has been executed through the interview questionnaires and important data has been gathered for the analysis. The critical data analysis indicated the key findings to achieve the research objectives. The IT and business processes integration has been applied through the alignment model. The research also indicated the standardization for the suggested model and the business recovery plan and business continuity strategy for the tourism industry.