How Tour Operators Cope With The COVID-19 Pandemic?
Many industries suffered from the COVID-19 epidemic, but the most significant impact was felt in the tourism and travel industry. It is disappointing to see that the technological revolution that brought us all together, making travel and tourism affordable and fueling over 4 billion trips per year, is now struggling to combat a virus that requires that we stay home.
The coronavirus, which was first discovered in late-2019 in China’s Wuhan region, is now found in many countries.
Here are some of the most important details you need to be aware of.
A total of more than 3,000,000 cases have been confirmed.
There have been more than 200 000 deaths.
A total of 210 countries and territories were affected.
A number of patients “recovering from” symptoms in excess of 800,000. Rest are still being monitored or quarantine.
The World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic on March 11, 2010.
COVID-19 is having an unavoidable impact on the travel industry. It has not only affected hotels but also airlines, cruise lines, and, consequently, the rental car industry.
To get more clarity, let’s take a look at global statistics.
The global trend in room revenue saw a sharp decline from the 1st of January 2020 to the 29th of February 2020. The movement showed a 16% decrease month-over-month for Jan-Feb. This analysis was performed by RateGain (a travel technology company).
The downward trend in room revenue can directly be attributed to the decline in overall bookings during the same month. The research showed that bookings made for future dates in the next twelve months were down globally by 9%.
The company even compared % changes in reservation data from the first week (1-7 March 2020) to that of the second week (8-14 March 2020).
The analysis showed that bookings declined in every destination country during Week 8. Italy, for instance, saw a dramatic 20% drop in bookings from Week 1 to Week 2 due to the total lockdown throughout the country.
How can you cope with these difficult times?
We don’t know when the crisis will end. All we can do is hope and practice social distancing.
We know that millions of jobs are in danger and that we must protect them, particularly vulnerable groups like SMEs, women, and the young. Companies need survival plans and mechanisms.
We need strong support to navigate the unprecedented economic and social effects of Coronavirus. We need fiscal and monetary policies that will protect jobs, aid the self-employed, increase recovery, and improve liquidity and operations.
OPTIMA by RateGain is a travel technology platform that can help hoteliers. This software helps hotels increase their chances of securing a substantial share of the available market. The software helps to understand the business of other competitors.
Tourism is a significant job source for many people, particularly youth and women. Tourism is believed to be the sector that has shown the most potential to rebound and assist other sectors.
We need a strong mitigation plan and recovery plan to support the sector and generate jobs and returns across the entire economy.
These are some of the steps that the tourism and hospitality industry can take to ensure a safer future.
