30 Mar 2020

THE TOURISM SECTOR WORKS ON THE BASIS OF A RECOVERY FOR 2nd. SEMESTER

New global initiatives in the sector and events that were postponed to the first semester, can allow activity to recover.

Despite global confinement, positive news is emerging that shows that this situation may have a rapid recovery in different sectors. Obviously not all the segments will do it at the same rate, but in the case of the tourism sector, one of the ones that most affects the GDP, the actions carried out by governments, institutions and companies suggest that the second semester will start to be seen a slight recovery in the sector.

Although 41% of companies canceled their events due to the situation caused by Covid-19, a good part of them postponed them instead of canceling them directly. This situation has also caused an operational change in companies in the tourism sector. For example, airlines, hotels or travel agencies have adopted greater flexibility with their clients and have allowed changes or cancellations that, in most cases, have been carried out without penalties. There are always specific situations in which it has not occurred, but revised in a generic way, they have marked a change in the restrictive policies that existed before the time we live.

As for the business travel sector, one of the most affected within the tourism segment, reports indicate that it will continue to grow once the pandemic is overcome. From the different reports on the sector, some of which have been published in national press newspapers such as the one issued by the corporate travel platform Bizaway, the business tourism sector will recover from the second half of the year and will continue to grow as It has done so in recent years, despite the negative effect of this current situation. Reviewing past previous global health alerts caused by bird flu, swine flu or the Zika virus, which have served as a starting point for the reports, business tourism will continue to evolve after the “coronavirus”. It should be borne in mind that, for example, in 1998 business trips had a turnover that did not exceed 600 million euros on the move, but until 2019 it has always continued to increase and its estimate is that by 2024 they may exceed 1,500 million euros in a constant upward trend. This optimism is also shared and published in the report by the CITI Financial Group, which also points to a comeback in the sector and highlights that face-to-face meetings and the celebration of fairs and conventions both to maintain direct contact with customers and for the Presentation of the products and services generated by the same companies will continue to have mass meetings in different tourist destinations. On the other hand, since people are curious by nature, they will continue individual or family trips, whether for business tourism, cultural or leisure interests. Precisely in these weeks of confinement, the initiatives of the culture sector, to take virtual reports of the exhibitions or cultural activities, and of the tourist destinations to make virtual their greatest tourist attractions have also generated the desire to travel a The doors will be reopened to tourists and visitors. Surely the recovery will be different in each case, for each company and for each action. Each one within his field must take the measures he deems most appropriate to help launch the entire sector.

In any case, as reflected in our BLOG on March 18th, when a new situation was beginning to take place for the MICE segment and which would lead to changes in the future, where virtual meetings or conferences will enter into the organization of events thanks to increasingly advanced technology.

Regarding positive global initiatives that put on the table that the sector continues to work for its recovery, the start of the new Berlin airport is scheduled for next November. On October 30, the old Berlin-Tegel airport will stop operating and all traffic will already be diverted to the new Berlin-Brandenburg airport, which will allow an operating capacity of 30 million passengers / year.

And to give another example, China, which considers its Covid-19 crisis over, has opened a section of the Great Wall to the public. Although it will have only 30% of visits respect to the usual volume, they do with restrictions and visitors must wear a mask and keep the distance between them. Despite these measures, it has already been a way to return to normal. They have also pointed out that similar steps will soon be taken by Disney Park in Shanghai and the Forbidden City in Beijing. More than 80 days have passed and this first opening proposal provides a reference for the tourism sector as to what is the expected timing to be able to start working on the recovery that, surely, must be done by country and as its contagions of the disease are at zero.