A spade of travel bans, cancellation of flights and dramatic reduction in tourists, coupled with curbs in corporate travel plans because of the spread of the coronavirus epidemic throughout the world is expected to hit the global business travel sector to hit hard for the current year with an expected loss of about $820 billion, according to calculations by an industry body. China is set to account almost half of the losses.
A survey conducted by Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) found that the worst hit segment of the industry is business travel to Asia because at least three out of every four companies that were surveyed said that they had either canceled or suspended all or most of its planned business trips to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
This latest estimate of the industry group about the loss because of the coronavirus hit is significantly above the losses it had forecast in February at $560 billion.
More than 4,000 have so far been killed by the fast spreading and deadly coronavirus – that originated in the city of Wuhan in China, and has infected more than 100,000 people all across the world as the virus spread in more than 70 countries outside of China. This has disrupted business activities globally – including the travel and tourism industry.
“Coronavirus is significantly impacting the business travel industry's bottom line,” GBTA Chief Operating Officer Scott Solombrino said in a statement. “The impact to the business travel industry – and to the broader economy – cannot be underestimated,” Solombrino added.
Since the beginning of the outbreak in China, there has been a 95 per cent drop in business travel in the country which is expected to result in a loss of $404.1 billion in revenue that would have otherwise been generated from corporate travel. Europe is expected to be the second most affected region with an expected loss of $190.5 billion.
The industry group said that the spread of the virus has left the biggest impact on the airline and hotel industry segments – which typically are the segments that are the largest beneficiaries of spending from corporate travel.
(Source:www.channelnewsasia.com)
A survey conducted by Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) found that the worst hit segment of the industry is business travel to Asia because at least three out of every four companies that were surveyed said that they had either canceled or suspended all or most of its planned business trips to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
This latest estimate of the industry group about the loss because of the coronavirus hit is significantly above the losses it had forecast in February at $560 billion.
More than 4,000 have so far been killed by the fast spreading and deadly coronavirus – that originated in the city of Wuhan in China, and has infected more than 100,000 people all across the world as the virus spread in more than 70 countries outside of China. This has disrupted business activities globally – including the travel and tourism industry.
“Coronavirus is significantly impacting the business travel industry's bottom line,” GBTA Chief Operating Officer Scott Solombrino said in a statement. “The impact to the business travel industry – and to the broader economy – cannot be underestimated,” Solombrino added.
Since the beginning of the outbreak in China, there has been a 95 per cent drop in business travel in the country which is expected to result in a loss of $404.1 billion in revenue that would have otherwise been generated from corporate travel. Europe is expected to be the second most affected region with an expected loss of $190.5 billion.
The industry group said that the spread of the virus has left the biggest impact on the airline and hotel industry segments – which typically are the segments that are the largest beneficiaries of spending from corporate travel.
(Source:www.channelnewsasia.com)
Homepage
Send to a friend
Printable version
Share
