The World Tourism Organization confirmed that the continued imposition of travel restrictions increases the impact of the recession on the demand for travel and tourism, expected to be the most severe impact during the second quarter of the year (April to June), as the number of trips worldwide decreased by 80% compared to 2019 Due to the severe travel restrictions imposed by governments to combat the spread of the Coronavirus.
The organization pointed out in a recent report, that the domestic markets are expected to witness an improvement in demand starting from the third quarter of this year in the first phase of lifting travel restrictions, however it is expected that the international markets will have a slower recovery, as it is possible that governments will maintain some restrictions To travel longer, maybe until September.
She noted that this decline prompted most airlines to stop a large proportion of their fleet on the ground and face many financial difficulties. Some governments have stepped in to provide the lifeblood of the struggling airlines. In addition to the airlines, the hotels were also affected by the decrease in travel. A sharp decrease in occupancy rates and hotel prices was observed in all regions of the world during the past March and April, and many hotels were completely closed.
For his part, Dr. Saeed Al-Batouti, economic adviser to the World Tourism Organization, said that this recession resulted in the fact that many hotels, including hotels affiliated with major hotel chains, have laid off large numbers of workers and reduced wages. Al-Batouti pointed out that the matter also affected the online reservation platforms, as companies in this field announced a reduction in the number of employees such as the Expedia Group, which cut 3,000 jobs, and the same was done by the famous hotel reservation website, which employs about 27 thousand employees. He also said that the governments tried to intervene to save the national airlines, for example the German federal government interfered with each of the German airline Lufthansa and gave them 9 billion euros in aid, as well as to save the Condor company and pumped 300 million euros in it.
The French and Dutch governments also provided € 11 billion in aid to Air France and KLM. Meanwhile, the US Treasury has reached an agreement with American airlines, Delta and United to obtain billions of dollars in government grants, and the Singapore government is also working with the private sector to provide up to 19 billion Singapore dollars (13.42 billion US dollars) to finance the airline. Singapore Airlines Singapur Airlines.
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