Travel Agents Face Mass Bankruptcies
09 March, 2020
The travel industry is veering ever closer to mass bankruptcy as the coronavirus scare keeps Koreans in the home. The most up-to-date blow comes after it was already struck by mass protests in Hong Kong and a boycott of Japan amid soured bilateral relations last year.
Even Korea's Zero. 1 and 2 players Hana Tour and Method Tour now declare they could encounter closures, even though many smaller enterprises already are shutting up shop.
Hana Tour saw the number of bookings last month plummet 84.8 percent, while Mode Tour suffered a 77-percent decline as tourists shunned offer tours to China, Japan and Southeast Asia. And today 91 countries all over the world either ban or restrict travelers from Korea.
Future prospects are actually bleak. A staffer at the Korea Association of Travel Agents explained, "The ecosystem of Korea's travel sector is definitely collapsing and the livelihood of its 1 million personnel is being threatened."
The impact has been felt in outbound, inbound and domestic tourism. An official at the Jeju provincial federal government explained, "On our island where tourism accounts for 70 percent of its economy, the mood could be summed up as panic."
The southern resort island actually saw a growth in tourists through the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome epidemics, however, not this time. Also Koreans have stopped visiting Jeju.
In line with the KATA, 93 travelling agencies have closed down since Jan. 20, when the coronavirus outbreak commenced to spread here.
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