Key Statistics:

  • 94% of tourism businesses have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis
  • 77% of travel and tourism businesses are reporting job losses due to COVID-19
  • 9% of tourism businesses have shut down as a result of the COVID-19 crisis

The U.S. travel and tourism industry generated over $1.6 trillion in economic output in 2017, supporting 7.8 million U.S. jobs. Travel and tourism exports accounted for 11 percent of all U.S. exports and nearly a third (32 percent) of all U.S. services exports. [1] When travel and tourism are impacted, it’s a huge deal. We surveyed 886 travel & tourism businesses to find out the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the travel industry. As we expected the overwhelming majority of travel and tourism businesses suffered an adverse effect from the COVID-19 crisis. 94 percent of tourism businesses report having been negatively affected. Percentage of Tourism Businesses Affected By COVID-19 As airports begin to shut down and overseas flights are canceled, tourism businesses targeting an international audience are taking the greatest hit. Over a third (36 percent) of tourism businesses targeting an international audience suffered a 75 to 100 percent loss of revenue or shut down completely. 16 percent of local tourism businesses have shut down. Regional, national and international tourism businesses fared slightly better with shutdown rates of 5 percent, 8 percent and 9 percent respectively. International Tourism Businesses Most Affected By COVID-19 The loss of overall revenue is hard to ignore. 63 percent of businesses suffered a loss of over half of their revenue. This will have devastating consequences for the industry as a whole. We expect to see this number rise the longer the COVID-19 crisis lasts. Effect Of COVID-19 On Tourism Business Revenues Loss of revenue comes with the inevitable loss of jobs. Over 77 percent of travel and tourism businesses are reporting job losses. Considering 7.8 million U.S. jobs are based in this sector the effect is far-reaching. COVID-19 Affect On Job Losses In Tourism Sector When asked to predict how long recovery from this crisis will take, tourism businesses were somewhat optimistic. Almost half (45 percent) said recovery would take 6 months or less. On the flip side, 20 percent said it would take over a year to recover. How Long Do Tourism Businesses Predict COVID-19 Recovery Will Take While 26 percent disagreed with this statement, almost double the respondents (50 percent) believed the government was doing enough to help tourism businesses.

Even though their businesses are being devastated by the travel restrictions put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19, the tourism industry overwhelmingly agree (over 79 percent) that Donald Trump was right to stop travel from Europe and other countries. COVID-19_ Tourism Industry Agrees Travel Restrictions Are Correct

Methodology

Stratos Jets surveyed 886 travel & tourism businesses between 26th and 30th March 2020. They were made up of international (17%), local (20%), national (33%) and regional (31%) companies from ten sectors across the travel industry. The breakdown of sectors is Accommodation (14%), Adventure and Recreation (9%), Attractions (8%), Events and Conferences (12%), Food and Beverage (8%), Retail (5%), Tourism Services (20%), Transportation (16%), Travel Trade (6%) and Other (3%).

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References

[1] https://www.selectusa.gov/travel-tourism-and-hospitality-industry-united-states