The novel COVID-19 has caused a lot of troubles on a global scale. The massive outbreak of the virus has impacted every single industry in the world. There is not a single sector left that has not experienced severe outcomes of the global pandemic. In March, the World Health Organization announced the virus as a pandemic and since then countries one by one began taking severe measures in attempts to stop COVID-19.
The biggest problem with this virus is just how contagious it is, thus people all over the world are practicing social distancing and self-isolation in order to avoid further spread of the virus. It is not hard to conclude that the first businesses to get the hit are the ones that represent social gathering spots. Those are the cafes, pubs, bistros, restaurants, hotels, and casinos. These businesses were the first to be forced to shut down until further notice.
Many countries have gone into lockdown almost immediately with the beginning of the outbreak. Almost every country in the world has now closed borders, which means that only special emergency flights and entrances to the country are allowed. The rest of it is prohibited. It has been a while since any of us has seen a plane leaving its trace on the sky. The aviation sector is another huge industry to take the hit.
Tourism industry
Countries closing borders means that no flights are legal and allowed. According to the up to date research and observations, the whole aviation industry has lost over $880 billion. This is one of the biggest losses known to this industry. The planes can no longer transfer passengers. Almost every country is exercising the quarantine regime, meaning that up until the moment the situation is more or less mild, businesses should not be expected to reopen. Many small companies are not expected to come back to life at all.
Aviation is a huge part of the tourism industry. But it is not over yet. Another big part of the tourism industry is hospitality, which took the second-biggest hit. The hotels and hostels all over the world are shut down for an uncertain period. Some hotels made the decision to serve the people at this period of crisis, and have become a shelter for the people in self-isolation, in quarantine or the people fighting on the frontlines, such as policemen and medical staff. These acts of kindness have been more than enough and many hotels are doing it for free, while others are taking only symbolic charges.
Many hotels, especially those on resorts have been extremely affected. The hotels with many options for entertainment such as casinos are the ones who suffer the most. They have the double loss, the hotel visitors and the casino visitors. The casinos are also a crucial part of the hospitality industry and especially luxury hotels. This is where guests spend most of their money and some of their time. While the gambling industry is also slowly sinking, the only possible option for the players is to address online casinos and play in online casino real money. Online casinos are the safest and least corrupt too — for example, Bingo Mum recommends a range of regulated and licensed no-deposit online free spins games for people to choose from. Though, some countries have limited that option too.
It’s not just the hotels ready to give out a helping hand. A lot of very famous restaurants took the decision to serve people fighting on the frontlines and to at least make their extremely risky job a bit more pleasant. We have witness acts of kindness from the food services many times before, and this time, when we need them the most, is no exception.
Christophe Raoux, the executive chief at Ecole Ducasse in France, together with Fabrizio Cosso, who is the executive at Eataly prepared daily meals for the medical staff of Bichat Hospital in Paris. Fabien Foare and Benoit Carcanet, the executive and chief of culinary arts at the Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland took another approach. They are working on preparing chocolate eggs to somehow make the routine and the risky lives of medical employees a bit more fun. They are working for the medical employees of Chablais, CHIV and Fribourg hospitals. Spain also stands by similar values. The Head of Chef Silvio Patrucco and Mr. Moeed Shah, who is the Head of Practical Operations at Les Roches Marbella F&B team, joins the forefronting team of medical personnel and provides their students with healthy and balanced meals, despite the existing risks and the emotional stress.
What’s next?
The global pandemic of COVID-19 had not left anyone out. It has touched the lives of everyone in every country. People are stressed, are in fear and some are losing control of their emotions. The families and small businesses are in an especially bad position, as they may not even recover from the very severe crisis.
The post-COVID-19 crisis can be even more severe than the 9/11 or 2008 global crisis. This is something the whole world should tackle with all strength and power, though the question is, will we have the power left to continue fighting? Governments have to take the leading roles right now and have to assist the major businesses in order for them to survive. Many European country authorities have already promised to invest millions of euros into the hospitality sector.
While we are not sure when everything is going to end, according to forecasts, the only right way out is getting used to living with the virus. Hotels will have to increase the safety and sanitary norms. The venues and gathering places will have to keep monitoring the distance between their customers. People will have to be more attentive and equipped with sanitizers, face masks and gloves. Traveling will not be canceled but rescheduled. At some point, once the start button is pushed, we will all have to adapt to the new reality together.
