Travel, the biggest causality of coronavirus

The COVID-19 pandemic which has pushed the world into a global recession has battered the travel and tourism industry. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) warned that due to the ongoing corona crisis about 50 million jobs would be wiped out from the industry all across the world. Asia is believed to bear the maximum job cuts, i.e. about 30 million, followed by seven million in Europe, five million in the Americas and the rest in other continents.

To prevent the deadly contagion from spreading, most of the nations sealed their borders canceled all international flights, while in some nations like India restrictions have been imposed even on domestic passenger flights. According to WTTC, this loss of business over the past two to three months would lead to a reduction in jobs of between 12% and 14%. According to the statement issued by the council, International travel is expected to have slipped by about 25%. The market analysts estimated that there would be a 17% fall in global revenues from travel and tourism industry, which makes about 568.6 billion U.S. dollars.



WTTC’s managing director Virginia Messina, with respect to the US’s decision to block to and for flights with Europe, told Reuters, “Certain measures are not helping and they can prompt the economic impact to be way more significant.”

She questioned the effectiveness of shutdown saying that it is too generic an approach and not proven to be effective to curtail the virus. She added that the government imposed restrictions that were hampering the smooth and quick delivery of medical supplies and increasing complications over the travel of medical experts.

According to Messina, each month around 850,000 people travel from Europe to the United States, which is equivalent to producing a $3.4 billion monthly contribution to the US economy,

She suggested the companies to adopt flexible policies, enabling travelers to postpone their plans than canceling them altogether. The slump in traveled to dominoes falling, as it took down the airline industry, cruise ships sector, hotel industry and more.

According to a survey conducted by Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), three out of every four companies had canceled or suspended all or most business trips to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other Asia-Pacific countries.

GBTA Chief Operating Officer Scott Solombrino said his statement, "Coronavirus is significantly impacting the business travel industry's bottom line. The impact on the business travel industry - and to the broader economy - cannot be underestimated.

"Travel business is not expected to take off for months even after the lockdown opens. Would this travel ban make way for virtual travel, i.e. through virtual reality. VR presents a powerful combination of technology and experience which is so far limited to museums and archeological
sites.

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