Travel-Business Stagnation and SME Business Turbulence in the Tourism Sector in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

I find your article very interesting, actual and useful for the stakeholders. However, there are few aspects that should be improved. Please find below some suggestions:

• you should add a keyword related to the COVID-19 pandemic
• specify the year for the numbers (source 13)
• avoid repetition ”Furthermore, tourism is a sector that has greatly impacted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. That is, the 
  economic impact”
• specify the proportion of the infected people among the active population or total population ”. The number of positive patients infected with the corona virus in Indonesia in 2020 was 6,575 people, then increased by 4,245,373 people, recovered by 4,090,287 people, and died as many as 143,457 people in 2021”
• ”This figure illustrates that tourist visits which tend to decline have an impact  on local revenue for North Toraja”. which figure? do you refer to the numbers?
• avoid repetition ”This means that governments need to consider the long-term implications of the crisis while leveraging digitalization and promoting structural transformation to build a stronger, more sustainable and resilient tourism economy [41]. This means that optimal efforts and new breakthroughs are needed towards economic recovery and business stability through innovation and the use of technology. This means that the use of information...”
• please add the verb ”Macroeconomic stability if it is supported by profitable business productivity and does not experience significant changes from time to time”;   ”Indicators to measure economic stability, namely economic growth, inflation, exchange rates, and interest rates.”
• please rephrase ”. That is, the government's fiscal policy is an instrument to manage the economy and create strong incentives”
• please describe the steps in another way (ex: table) ”First, build a brand by introducing brand identity to consumers through television and social media. Second, create....”
• please specify the gap in literature you address and specify why is useful the present research
• add also the country of the study area
• please add a map of the region (study area section)
• please rephrase ”Furthermore, the questionnaire in the study was used for two functions, namely (i) descriptive, namely describing”
• ”The industries that were seriously affected were the travel business, trade and service sector, education, and small and medium enterprises [68]” - please rephrase. ”small and medium enterprises” are not an industry.
• please find another design for Figure 4, figure 10
• please replace the images from figure 5 (the quality is too low)
• explain the origin of the data of figure 7, 8, 9
• explain the results from each method you used. As you described the results, it is not clear

All the best

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

First of all, we thank you very much for the suggestions and input given to improve our article. We have corrected several things according to suggestions and input from reviewers, as follows:

1. Determine the proportion of infected persons among the active population or the total population. We have corrected the revision and sharpening according to the reviewer's suggestions and input (page 2).
2. This figure illustrates that tourist visits which tend to decline have an impact on the original incame of the North Toraja Area. We have fixed it (page 2).
3. Avoid repetition that governments need to consider the long-term implications of the crisis while leveraging digitalization and promoting structural transformation to build a stronger, more sustainable and resilient tourism economy [41]. We have fixed it (page 3).
4. Indicators to measure economic stability are economic growth, inflation, exchange rates, and interest rates. Fixed (page 4).
5. Repeat. This means that the government's fiscal policy in an instrument to manage the economy and create strong incentives". Fixed (page 4).
6. Explain the steps in another way (eg: table). We have added it (pages 5-6).
7. List gaps ini the literature you work with and explain why this reseach is useful. Also add a study area. We have revised and added (page 4).
8. Add a map of the area (studi area sections). We have included it (page 9).
9. Repeat. Futhermore, the questionnaire in this study was used for two functions, namely (i) descriptive. Fixed (pages 10).
10. Small and medium enterprises" is not an industry. Fixed (page 13).
11. Anather design for Figure 4, Figure 10. Fixed (pages 15 and 26).
12. Change the image toi Figure 5 (too low quality). Fixed (page 16).
13. Explain the origin of the data in Figure 7,8,9 and explain the result of each method you used. As you described the result, is not clear. Fixed (pages 18-24).

 

Once again, thank you for your suggestions and input.

Regards,

Author

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Greetings,
The paper is written in great detail. It has a large number of references which is commendable. However, the biggest paper problem is the results. The results were reduced to 5 figures and one table. The data in Figure 9 are correlated. Where is that data you analyzed. Tables where descriptive data of the analysis would be presented are missing. Better analyzes such as factor analysis are lacking, as Table 2 should be confirmed by this analysis. Also correlation analysis cannot be the basis for proving something, either SEM or regression analysis should be done by someone else to prove it.
From all of this you need to compare on the results to boost your contribution to this paper. Your greatest contribution is precisely the results on the basis of which the discussion and guidelines for future research should be developed.
All best.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

First all, we thank you very much for the suggestions and inputs given to improve our article. We have corrected several things according to suggestions and input from reviwers, as follows:

1. The result is reduced to 5 number and one Table. The data in Figure 9 are correlated. Where is the data you are analyzing. We have added (pages 18-22).
2. The Table in which the descriptive analysis data will be presented does not exist. Better analysis such as factor analysis is still lacking, because Table 2 must be confirmed by this analysis. We have fixed it (pages 18-22).
3. Correlation analysis also cannot be use as a basis to prove samething, both SEM and regression analysis must be done  by same else to prove it. We have fixed it (pages 20 and 24).
4. From all this you need to compare the result to improve your contribution to this paper. Your greatest contribution is precisely the result that from the basis of discussion and guidelines for future research to be developed. We have sharpened back (pages 18-22).

Once again, thank you for your suggestions and input

Regards,

Author

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Greetings
The authors corrected the paper.
All best

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

First of all, we thank you very much for the suggestions and inputs given to improve our article. We have corrected several things according to suggestions and input from reviewers, as follows:

1. We have added data for analysis need in our article according to the suggestions and input of reviewers.
2. Same of the Figure we have fixed according to suggestions and input from reviewers.

Thanks again for the suggestions and input. We hope that the revisions we have made have met the expectation of the reviewers.

Regards,

Author 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf