The COVID outbreak is having a devastating impact on the American travel and tourism sector.
Reporting from Niall McCarthy – Statista
A new report from the U.S. Travel Association and Oxford Economics has highlighted the level of financial damage the COVID-19 outbreak has inflicted in the country.
According to the data, a $519 billion decline in travel spending in the US this year will translate into a total economic loss of $1.2 trillion in economic output. This is more than nine times the impact of 9/11 on travel sector revenue. Travel industry revenue is expected to fall 81 percent over the next two months while it is forecast to decline 45 percent over the entire year. Employment is also suffering with the report, as 8 million people will lose their jobs this year as a result of travel declines, including 6.9 million jobs directly in the travel industry. Oxford Economics expects a 24 million job loss in April, implying that travel-related jobs will comprise one-third of this decline.
The steepest losses are expected to be experienced in April, including:
- Travel industry revenue: $83 billion loss
- Total economic output: $189 billion loss
- Direct travel industry jobs lost: 6.9 million
- Total travel-supported jobs lost: 8.0 million
The report also focused on the sectors forecast to experience the highest financial losses within the wider U.S. travel industry. Food Services is set to have the highest fall in direct spending at $128 billion. Lodging will be hit to the tune of $112 billion while all those grounded airliner fleets will result in a $97 billion in direct spending for the Air Transportation sector. Even though the spending declines are set to gradually recover over the course of the year as restrictions are loosened, losses are still expected to continue throughout 2020.
