Coronavirus: tourism goes into survival mode

SituationinFrance

The tourism sector in France and throughout the world is seriously affected. In an instant, the epidemic has completely disrupted the tourism market: borders are closed, no more flights, no more visas are issued. At the forefront of this panic, tourism is bearing the brunt of the economic consequences of the spread of the virus. There is growing concern at a time when the tourism sector is vital to the health of the French economy. France is the most visited country in the world, with about 89 million tourists last year. For its part, Cannes is the second most popular destination for business tourism after Paris.

The key question

The main question we are most concerned about now, both travel and vacation rental agencies such as Olam Properties and travellers themselves, is whether we can start planning for the summer season and hope to go on vacation this summer.

It is almost impossible to predict how this will develop. It all depends on the health situation in the world in general and each one of us in particular. No one disputes, abandoning one's usual way of life, finding oneself in a difficult professional situation for someone is an enormous stress that each of us will experience in a particular way. But it is a situation of force majeure that must be endured. That is why we have to make serious efforts to observe strict quarantine.

Reopening of tourist sites

The first sparks of rebirth that you notice where it all began. Now in China, where the epidemic after its peak and plateau has diminished, the tourist market has started to wake up very slowly. Several monuments and tourist sites have partially reopened in Shanghai at a time when the Chinese economic capital is no longer registering any new coronavirus contamination and activity is gradually resuming elsewhere in the country. The Disneyland Shanghai complex has also partially reopened. A number of other tourist sites were to gradually reopen again, according to local media reports.

The expert's opinion, estimates

Unfortunately, this is not yet the case in Europe at the moment. However, the most optimistic estimate in the world is that the World Tourism Organisation, which used to forecast a 4% growth in world tourism, is now forecasting a 3% fall in world tourism and a 15% decrease in tourist flows in the Mediterranean region. And if the borders open up between now and the summer, there's every reason anyhow to believe that our customers will be rushing to come and enjoy the Côte d'Azur, after having lived these many weeks in confinement.

Latest trends in tourism after the epidemic

In the short term, people will not travel abroad on a massive scale, preferring domestic tourism. It is estimated that the difficult situation in Europe will last until mid-May, but "This does not mean that people will start travelling immediately afterwards. It means that people will start working from now on", - tourism expert Fernando Gallardo gives these comments.

By the summer, according to him, the situation in Europe will gradually start to calm down and economic activity will return to normal. The tourism industry will start to come alive around July.

Like many serious players in the world of travel and tourism, Olam Properties is taking advantage of this period of the "rest" to prepare you for the most beautiful summer season of 2020.