PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine the role of fear of COVID-19 and job stress on women's turnover intentions in the hospitality industry (travel agencies). Also, the mediating role of work-family conflict was examined.Design/methodology/approachThree theoretical approaches of importance for framing issues of fear of COVID-19, job stress, work-family conflict and women's turnover intentions. Using the purposive sampling technique, the participants for the current paper were selected from the population of employees of top travel and tour operation firms in Lagos, Nigeria.FindingsFindings from the study indicate that the fear of COVID-19 and job stress was found to be positively related to work-family conflict and work-family conflict was positively related to women's turnover intentions. Work-family conflict mediates the positive relationship between fear of COVID-19 and women's turnover intentions, while against priori; the work-family conflict did not mediate the relationship between job stress and women's turnover intentions.Research limitations/implicationsOur study's findings were limited in their generalizability because they focused on a specific operating sector of tourism, travel and tour. Testing the study's model in different tourism operating sectors or mixed industries could offer better insights. A comparative study between this current context and western/non-western contexts to provide more contextual insights.Originality/valueThis study considered travel agencies (the pillar of the tourism industry) that have been understudied. The main strength of the study is its female-centric approach to uncovering the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitality employee outcomes. Specifically, the study used African females in the hospitality settings to investigate the aforementioned relationships. 10; Keywords: COVID-19; job stress; turnover intention; work-family conflict.