The deadly coronavirus hasn't just upset the plans of many travellers who are cancelling their bookings with fear of contracting the infection, but, has also adversely affected the airline and travel industry globally.
Only a month before Easter, one of the busiest holidays in the European calendar, the owner of the Hotel San Samuele in the heart of Venice has seen more than 80% of reservations cancelled, and future bookings have evaporated.
The coronavirus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, has spread around the world, with more new cases now appearing outside China than inside.
Italy is the worst-hit country in Europe, preparing to close schools, cinemas and theatres after more than 100 people died and confirmed coronavirus cases rose above 3,000.
The rapid spread of the virus has plunged the travel and tourism industry, which accounts for more than 10% of global economic growth, into one of its worst crises, according to interviews with more than a dozen industry experts, hotel owners and tour operators.
Travel and tourism accounted for about 319 million jobs, or 10% of total world employment in 2018, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). Leisure represents almost 80% of the total compared with 20% for business spend, it says.
Experts paint a bleak picture in the near term.
International travel is expected to fall by 1.5% this year, the first drop since 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis, according to consultancy Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company. During the 2003 SARS outbreak, rates of travel fell just 0.3%.
With China at the centre of this latest outbreak, Asia Pacific will be the hardest hit region, with a double-digit decline in visitor arrivals forecast for 2020 at 10.5%, according to Tourism Economics.
“If the spread of the coronavirus continues, the impacts on tourism could last longer and be much more severe than SARS,” the consultancy said in a report published this week.
Hotel chains enforce precautionary measures, issue safety, hygiene advisories
Hotel chains are enforcing precautionary measures for guests and issuing hygiene and safety advisories following disclosures of new COVID 19 cases in India. The government also put further restrictions on travellers from countries like Italy, South Korea, Japan and Iran on Tuesday in a bid to contain the outbreak.
Coronavirus set to infect global airlines' fragile health
The COVID-19 outbreak is hitting travel worldwide in unprecedented ways. As business trips are being cancelled and tourists stay at home, the airline industry is facing the worst downturn since the 2008 financial crisis.
However, people have become more resilient to health crises over the past decade or so, on average returning to travel and holidays swiftly once an outbreak is contained, Tourism Economics’ analysis shows.
But the coronavirus is unprecedented in its geographic spread. The consultancy is using SARS as its benchmark, which means they expect the virus to be contained by the end of the first half of the year.
Under that scenario, travel rates would start to recover from around July but it will take until 2021/22 before the industry has recovered completely, David Goodger, managing director of Europe and the Middle East at Tourism Economics, told Reuters.
