No one is quite sure what long-term effects the coronavirus (COVID-19) will have on the global travel and tourism industry, but one thing is for sure, the initial losses are nothing to sneeze at. 

In fact, the losses so far are so huge, it’s sending chills through the $5.29 trillion global industry. 

U.S. tourism officials, for instance, are already predicting a loss of $5.8 billion this year because of the virus, which so far has claimed over 1,400 victims (at press time) worldwide.

Canadian tourism officials are bracing for huge losses as well. With China being Canada’s second largest overseas market – over 800,000 arrivals in 2019 – and because the Chinese spend the most of any tourist while on Canadian soil ($2,800 per person), losses are expected to far exceed the $5.25 billion Canada lost during the 2003 SARS crisis, which claimed 43 Canadian lives.

\

Above: Cruise ship passengers have suffered the most and the industry is now reeling.

And consider this: the SARS outbreak occurred a decade before Chinese outbound tourism exploded; China is now the world’s largest travel population and the biggest spenders – over $300 billion last year.

“It took our industry almost two years to recover from the effects of SARS and this coronavirus is far worse,” said Annie Tsu, President and CEO of Tour East Group, one of the largest Canadian providers of Asian holidays, whose company has seen sales decline by almost 50 per cent since thecoronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China.

Asian-based airlines have been especially affected. China Eastern, for example, has seen its stock value drop by as much as 20 per cent since the outbreak was first reported. 

Above: Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways is asking employees to take unpaid leave.

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways is asking its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave. Cathay already cut 90 per cent of is flights to mainland China in February and was already bleeding red ink thanks to the 2019 Hong Kong protests.

Even online travel agents like C-Trip, the world’s biggest, are bending under the financial burden of the virus. Rumours have it that C-Trip is selling as much as $1.5 billion of its stock to just stay afloat.

Many smaller travel agents in China have already declared bankruptcy and overseas travel providers, who have become so dependent on the Chinese inbound market, are asking their governments for financial assistance to help weather the storm.

Cruise ship bookings have dropped dramatically since two vessels were seized and quarantined in Hong Kong and Tokyo after passengers were discovered to have COVID-19.

The outlook for the peak spring and summer sailings for the $45 billion cruise industry is not looking promising with advance bookings reportedly down a whopping 25 per cent.

Above: Online searches for coronavirus and its symptoms have exploded in recently.

Same holds true for the hospitality industry. Hotels worldwide are losing billions thanks to unexpected cancellations, especially in the high-yield MICE (meeting and incentive) and convention markets.

Then there’s the luxury goods sector, which relies heavily on Chinese tourists buying up their designer products all around the world. One industry analyst says this coronavirus may lead to some bankruptcies because of high overheads.

Tourism boards who, for the past decade have ignored traditional markets and feasted off a glut of Chinese tourists to their countries, are now scrambling to reconnect with North American and European travellers.

Understandably, Canadian travellers are consumed with COVID-19 and what affects it has on their travel plans, especially since the Federal Government issued stern warnings about travelling to affected areas.

The internet has been inundated with inquiries. According to trends data provider SEMrush, average searches by Canadians looking for information on the coronavirus spiked in late January as more details surfaced. At the same time, SEMrush reported that internet searches for “China Tours” decreased 48 per cent.

Online searches for “symptoms of the virus” grew by 1,012 per cent, according to SEMrush, while one of the most asked questions, “is coronavirus deadly?” grew by 642 per cent.

Sadly, there will be many more victims of the deadly COVID-19 before it’s contained. And no industry will suffer more than travel and tourism.