In the first quarter of 2020, the world began to change in ways no one predicted. COVID-19 ravaged the world’s industries and spread like wildfire from country to country. With quarantines decreed the world over, businesses faced the task of learning to limp on without an in-person workforce. Adapt or die. One of the most devastating impacts of the quarantines was massive work loss. A surprising amount of the jobs lost affected the travel industry.
Travel Industry Deals with a High Level of Jobs Lost
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) January employment report, 10 percent of pre-pandemic leisure and hospitality jobs remain lost due to the impact of COVID-19. Those jobs represent a staggering 61% of overall employment in the U.S. lost on account of the pandemic.
Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy at U.S. Travel, Tori Emerson Barnes, commented on the report. “While the overall jobs report today may be good news for some, the revised BLS data now confirms an even bigger revelation, that 61 percent, or nearly two-thirds, of all jobs still lost due to the pandemic, are in the Leisure & Hospitality sector,” she said. “The uneven recovery of the travel sector is due in large part to the lack of inbound international travelers, and the deep reduction in business travel, and professional meetings and events.”
U.S. Travel petitioned Congress in October to provide further financial relief and incentives to bolster the ailing travel sector. “There could not be a more pressing time for Congress to implement short-term priorities to stimulate this vital contributor to the U.S. economy and rebuild American jobs,” Tori Emerson Barnes said.
Because of this, many countries worldwide lifted sanctions to combat these numbers. Places like Mexico and the Caribbean, which depend largely on tourism, are opening their borders for travelers.
