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avani106 · 4 years

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COVID-19 Impact on Travel Industry

Life as we know it,has come to a complete standstill.

Almost every sector in the world economy has beenaffected by the novel coronavirus and the following lockdown but with borders shut and the entire world behind closed doors, both international and domestic travel has come to incredible break for all the nations and it is the worst nightmare of the travel industry.

Many countries have been affected by Covid-19 breakout and this has led great impact on almost all sectors.The travel and tourism industry is one of the most affected of all from this crisis.

STATISTICS

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a 22% fall in international tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2020, the latest data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) shows. According to the United Nations specialized agency, the crisis could lead to an annual decline of between 60% and 80% when compared with 2019 figure.Fall in tourism has lead effects to the hospitality and aviation industry because of their heavy interdependency. It has affected jobs like tourist guides, drivers, restaurant workers, housekeeping staff and more.

This year the scope to create pictures and build lifetime memories form travels is no where to be seen.The months of May and June are the best for the travel agencies to earn but due to crisis this year have been worst for them .

CURRENT SCENARIO

Countries like India which were just about to enter into the holiday season, in which the travel is at its peak has suffered a lot. With cancellations of pre booked flights and hotels and clearly no new bookings, the industry suffered a great deal of loss forcing it to lay off a lot of employees, pay cuts, and even shutting down a lot of firms. Also, with absolutely nil tourist activity taking place in its peak season, the government also lost ample amount of revenue, making it worse to tackle the virus. “The world is facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Tourism has been hit hard, with millions of jobs at risk in one of the most labour-intensive sectors of the economy,” - UNWTO Secretary-General said.

Now after prolonged phases of lockdown, as the countries decided to ease the restrictions many sectors will soon be back on their feet but the tourism and hospitality still breathes in darkness and looks out for certainty. The spread of coronavirus has instilled profound fear in the minds of the people and they have become ultra-cautious to not travel unless necessary. The recovery disparities between countries is also a major difficulty to cope up with. As the countries decided to ease the lockdown, only a few countries opened their borders and that too for some selected “less affected” countries. This non uniformity hasn’t helped the industry much.

CONCLUSION

The lockdown has had a devastating impact on almost all the business sectors. In months to come when the situation begin to better, travelling may be the last thought in almost all minds, worsening the situation for the industry.

Only a vaccine for the coronavirus can provide certainty . It seems like the coronavirus vaccine will not only cure the disease but will also be the elixir for the tourism and hospitality industry to normalise its operations because without a vaccine , travel restrictions, quarantine regulations and fear in the minds of people will continue to hinder the said industry and it will never be the same again. It was the first industry to suffer and it may well be the last to recover.

#travel #travelindustry #lockdown #unwto #covidimpacts #covid19

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