How Covid-19 Has Affected The Tourism Industry

How Covid-19 Has Affected The Tourism Industry

The coronavirus pandemic has significantly changed the way we live. Isolation has forced people and companies to try new strategies to move forward. Because of the coronavirus lockdown, several companies had to freeze their operations, and many lost their jobs.

The tourism industry was among the most affected sectors worldwide. In 2019, the tourism sector accounted for 10.3 percent of the global GDP. Year after year, the sector experienced important growth. However, with airplanes on the ground and travel restrictions implemented, its historical growth halted in 2020. This article will provide you with a better idea of how the travel industry has changed during Covid-19 and what companies have done to survive.
Travel Restrictions
To stop the virus from spreading, all countries around the world applied travel restrictions. Airport closures, nationwide lockdowns, and the suspensions of flights are only some of the measures that several nations implemented to contain the pandemic. Because of the measures taken, several people were trapped in countries where they didn’t belong, and going back home became a nightmare. By the second quarter of 2020, about 93 percent of the global population lived in countries with Covid-19 travel restrictions.

The Fall of International Tourism and UNWTO’s Forecast

Tourist arrivals have grown incredibly in the last decade. In 2017, arrivals reached 1.3 billion worldwide. In 2018, it reached 1.5 billion. Despite tourist arrivals growth, in 2020, international tourism went down due to Covid-19.

The pandemic’s impact made international tourism decreased by 65 percent in the second quarter of 2020 compared to 2019 statistics. Nevertheless, they all depend on the start point of gradual borders’ openings as well as lifting travel restrictions. Local tourism is expected to recover way faster than international tourism.

Covid-19’s Impact on the Hospitality Sector

Due to the coronavirus lockdown, hotel occupancy rates dropped significantly. The hospitality sector faced a difficult situation during the coronavirus outbreak, and it’s still struggling to recover. In Italy, hotel occupancy dropped to 96 percent and in the US to 59 percent. There’s no doubt that the industry was hit hard. Still, several companies, like Marriott Hotels, did everything they could to survive.

The demand for tech professionals like software engineers increased as they were capable of developing virtual reality solutions. Virtual reality has changed the way we travel, and in the middle of Covid-19, it allowed companies in the hospitality sector to meet customers’ needs.

On the other hand, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, customers began to spend more time online, and websites became indispensable for companies worldwide. Hence, many companies started to hire tech workers with web development skills. Websites allowed customers to solve coronavirus-related travel restriction issues and helped companies to provide better services.

There’s still a long way to go through for the hospitality sector to recover fully. STR, a global hospitality company, compared the US Hospitality statistics between May 2020 and May 2019. It reported a notable decline in the global hotel performance indices—55.9 percent in occupancy, 74.4 percent in revenue per available room, and 42.1 percent in the average daily rate.

Coding Bootcamps: the Survival Alternative for Trapped Tourists

Trapped tourists were not able to return home due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. Hence, several needed to get a job in order to survive and buy a plane ticket. Many people visited exceptional websites like Career Karma to find the best coding bootcamps in the market. Others preferred to learn by themselves.

Online coding bootcamps have become very popular because they allow candidates to get employed in the midst of uncertainty. Also, they provide students with the right skills to become remote workers, and for trapped tourists, it was a synonym for economic survival. Some people decided to change careers, and others only updated their skills. Anyhow, coding bootcamps enabled tourists to get a job and deal with the expenses during isolation.

Conclusion

In general, it’s still a matter of time for the tourism sector to recover. Several countries have started to ease travel restrictions and implement new measures to adapt to the “new normal”. Since remote work became the new standard, companies changed how they operate, and there’s no way back. Day after day, more companies will invest money in new technologies to improve their products and services.