In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many industries have been affected, but the worst part was seen and felt almost instantly in the travel and tourism industry. It is saddening to see how the technological revolution that brought us all together in making travel and tourism easy and affordable, driving 4 billion trips a year, is fighting to fight a virus that demands that we stay home and we are not moving.

The coronavirus was first identified in late 2019 in the Wuhan region of China and is now present in dozens of countries around the world.

Some of the critical details to know:

â— More than 3 million cases have been confirmed.

â— More than 200 thousand deaths have been registered.

â— 210 countries or territories have been affected.

â— Number of cases that “recover” from symptoms greater than 800 thousand. The rest are still under observation or quarantine.

â— The World Health Organization declared the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 as a global pandemic as of March 11.

Tea covid-19 outbreakIt is having an unavoidable impact on the travel industry, not only limited to hotels, but it has hit airlines, cruise ships, and as a result even the car rental industry a lot.

Let’s take a look at the global statistics for clarity..

• From January 1, 2020 to February 29, 2020, the trend for room revenue experienced a sharp decline globally. It showed a 16% month-over-month decrease, for the month of January to February, this analysis was conducted by RateGain, a travel technology company.

• The downward trend in room revenue can be directly attributed to the decline in total booking during the same month. According to the research, it showed that bookings made during the month for any future date in the next 12 months, found that bookings were reduced globally by 9%.

• The company even compared the% change in booking data extracted from the first week (March 1-7, 2020) with the second week of March (March 8-14, 2020).

• According to the analysis, all destination countries showed a decrease in bookings in week 8. For example, Italy registered a staggering 20% ​​decrease from the first week to the second week of March due to the total lockdown across the country.

How to face such difficult times?

• Unfortunately, we do not know when this crisis will end; all we can do is hope and practice social distancing.

• What we do know is that millions of jobs are at risk, which we must protect, especially vulnerable segments such as SMEs, the self-employed, women and young people. We need to have survival mechanisms / plans for companies.

• One thing is for sure: we need strong support to address the unprecedented economic and social impact of the Coronavirus. What we need today are fiscal and monetary measures to help protect jobs, help the self-employed and business liquidity and operations, and accelerate recovery.

• To help all hoteliers today, we need an efficient travel technology platform like OPTIMA from RateGain. It helps hotels to maximize their chances of obtaining a significant portion of the business available on the market. The software helps to better understand competitors who are in the same business environment.

• As you can know, tourism is an important provider of employment for many people, especially women and young people. It is also believed to be the sector with proven ability to recover and help other sectors as well.

• Last but most importantly, we need a robust mitigation and recovery plan that supports the sector and helps generate returns across the economy and employment.

In conclusion, these were some of the steps that the travel and hospitality industry can take for a better and more secure future.