Shock of hotel tourism before COVID 19

Hotel tourism is one of the largest industries in the world and important to the global economy, with turnover of 5.7 trillion USD, creating about 319 million jobs.

However, the boom in hotel tourism stopped in early January, when the Covid-19 outbreak broke out in China. To prevent the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, millions of people in the country canceled the spring travel, limiting travel. This effect has also spread globally as international fairs and conferences from Hong Kong (China) to Italy are being shelved, and hotels are also becoming quieter than ever.

The impact is just the beginning

According to Adam Sacks at Oxford Economics, if you measure the overall impact of the tourism industry affected by the disease, it will be bigger than any other industry in the world. Because this is a diverse industry, which includes the activities of airlines, hotels, restaurants ...

Chicago-based United Airlines company revealed that when the Covid-19 epidemic was unpredictable, the travel demand for Chinese people fell almost completely. This also makes tourism "shot down", because the number of Chinese tourists has skyrocketed in recent years.

According to a study by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Center for Global Economic and Tourism Research (GTERC), in 2018, Chinese tourists made 150 million foreign trips, spending up to US $ 277 billion (up 5.2% compared to 2017), accounting for more than 50% of Asia's international tourism spending, accounting for 20% of the world's total international tourism spending.

In 2019, the top 10 destinations for Chinese tourists are all in Asia. That means some countries like Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam will suffer from the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Hong Kong (China) and Macao - two major destinations for Chinese tourists - will also suffer significant losses.

The worst may not yet come

A blow to the hospitality industry is likely to become a major obstacle to the global economy if the Covid-19 epidemic continues to spread around the world.

Commenting on the impact of tourism on the Covid-19 epidemic, experts say that the blow to this industry may not be enough to spark a global recession. But it can also have a strong impact on the global economy.

Tourism industry hotel revenue

By this time, the Covid-19 epidemic had far outstripped the Sars epidemic (2002 - 2003) and MERS in the number of cases and would certainly far outnumber the deaths. In a very short time, the Covid-19 epidemic has affected all economic sectors, of which the tourism industry is heavily affected.

According to statistics over the past 3-4 years, Vietnam's tourism has witnessed a spectacular growth of the highest in the world with an average of over 20% / year. Specifically, in 2019 Vietnam welcomed a record high number of international visitors of more than 18 million and has set a target of welcoming about 20.5 million in 2020.

The Covid-19 epidemic is really a shock to Vietnam's tourism industry in the early days of 2020. Since January 28, 2020, the Chinese government has banned all domestic tourism activities. foreign destinations and tourism seriously affect the countries receiving many Chinese tourists such as Southeast Asian countries, Korea, Japan ...

In 2019, Vietnam welcomed more than 5.8 million Chinese visitors, accounting for about one third of the total international visitors to Vietnam. Provinces and cities receiving many Chinese tourists include Khanh Hoa, Da Nang, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Phu Quoc.

In addition, the disease also makes visitors afraid to dare to tour domestically and abroad, causing the tourism industry to lose revenue and travel companies to suffer big losses in the risk of being fined by the airline.

Thus, if the epidemic is prolonged, many travel companies, hotels, airlines, transportation, restaurants, tourist shopping places ... may face the risk of bankruptcy.

Besides, Vietnam's tourism industry is facing the risk of a sharp decline in the number of tourists and revenue. Millions of workers in the hotel and tourism industry are at risk of having their income reduced or even cut due to lack of jobs.