Describe the changes that happened and practices being followed in tourism during this time of pandemic
Answers
Explanation:
Within a month the first industry that was hit hard and seriously affected is “tourism.” Worldwide Tourism and hospitality industry is very badly affecting by pandemics, because of the nature of the business which is always related to the travelling of people. History had shown that epidemics and pandemics have an immediate impact on the hotels and restaurants, airlines industries, travel agencies etc, due to the international travel restrictions, media coverage and government measures. It is only rational that the outbreak has had significant knock-on effects on the Chinese economy as well as the tourism industry worldwide. At the moment, Chinese tourism industry is already ‘lifeless.’ A China tour operator has declared bankruptcy and Chinese tourist enterprises are closing one after the other. So guess, if we have a problem in China, we will most certainly have overflow of this problem on supply chains of manufacture on travel on tourism [and] on other sectors. Take under consideration that Chinese tourists have about 30% higher average per capita spending than other nationalities. Hence, the economic impact will be greater than the proportion of Chinese tourists as a whole. As the spread of coronavirus in Europe is widened, limiting Europeans' disposition for travel, the problem will become even larger for tourism. It is worth noting that in the first two to three months of each year major tour operators make the most of their clients' summer vacation reservations. As expected the countdown begun.
Russian government in panic forbids tour operators to sell in Italy. Coronavirus brought the larger crisis in Italian tourism; with a 40% decrease in its sector (Francesca Brianza, Vice President of Peripheral Lombardy Council). Hundreds of bookings have been cancelled and the future reservations are severely decreased until the end of June. Added to all these, USA has announced a new travel recommendation, the State Department is recommending that Americans who are planning to visit Italy to review their trip (CNN). According to ‘Assotourism’, 90% of all bookings in Rome were cancelled and 80% respectively of Sicily. Tourism industry -representing 13% of the Italian GDP- is sinking. Additionally, Spain businesses are also affected. The impact on the Spanish tourism sector is also expected to be severe. NH Hotels Group and IAG have a powerful presence in Italy. NH Hotels Group has 50 hotels throughout Italy, 12 of which in Milan, while the group's economic activity in Italy reached 290m euro in 2018 (tornosnews). Moreover IAG operates flights to 18 Italian destinations cities affected by the spread of the virus. So it easy to understand the economic impact it will suffer as a result of the pandemic. Noticeably, French Tourism is under attack too; with the prime Minister supporting that they have a decrease of 30-40%. This is an important impact on the French economy if you think that Chinese tourists reach 2.5millions. Obviously, Greek tourism couldn’t avoid not to be affected. The Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis announced few days ago that close to 70 percent of Chinese visitors have cancelled their trip to Greece due to the coronavirus outbreak (Kathimerini). The island of Santorini is already registering a domino of cancelations unfortunately not only from China but from tourists from all over the world, who cancel their trip when they learn that there are Chinese in Santorini. The president of Santorini Hoteliers, Mr. Iliopoulos says that cancellations have reached 60-70% in February and March and will reach 100% in April, as consulates have stopped issuing travel visas. Santorini Travel agents consider that they will lose 10% of this year's tourism revenue, which has a knock-on effect on the entire local economy: trade, transport and services. After the cases of coronavirus in Greece, we are expecting (due to media panic mostly) more cancellations in whole Greece. All tourism businesses hold their breath while observing updates. If the virus keeps on (and especially if this media madness continues) the impact on tourism will be irreversible.