Trouble Ahead for Travel Business

Whether you’re planning to open fully your travel business or partially, it behooves you to plan for rough times.

As they say, in turbulent times, plan carefully for unavoidable disruptions and you may reach calm waters.

A United Nations report warns that international tourism could suffer similar losses in 2021 as last year.

The collapse of international tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to a loss of more than $4 trillion in global GDP over the years 2020 and 2021, according to a report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published at the end of June. The report was presented jointly with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

International tourism and the sectors that depend on it suffered an estimated loss of $2.4 trillion in 2020 due to the direct and indirect impacts of a sharp drop in international tourist arrivals.

A similar loss could be recorded this year again, warns the report, which specifies that the resumption of tourism will largely depend on the massive distribution of vaccines against COVID-19 on a global scale.

“The world needs a global vaccination effort that will protect workers, mitigate social damage and make strategic decisions about tourism, taking into account potential structural changes,” observed Isabelle Durant, acting secretary-general of UNCTAD.

As vaccination rates are uneven, with less than 1% of the population vaccinated in some countries and more than 60% elsewhere, the report notes that tourist losses are greater in developing countries.

Thus, three, more or less pessimistic scenarios were presented for the year 2021, the most optimistic evoking a reduction in tourist arrivals of only 63 percent on average.

According to the UNWTO, industry experts do not expect to return to usual crowds before 2023, or even later, the main obstacles being restrictions on travel, the slow containment of the virus, weak traveler confidence, and an unfavorable economic environment.

In uncertain times, even as some regions are dropping restrictions and allowing businesses to open fully, the road to recovery is bumpy. On the one hand, your creativity and market knowledge will help you survive. On the other hand, there are official sources of help for small businesses such as yours. In these circumstances, I recommend that you get in touch with the Small Business Administration and specifically in New Jersey the New Jersey Small Business Development Centers. Visit its website at https://njsbdc.com/ to find your regional center.