In the wake of the current lockdown announced by government to curb the continued spread of COVID-19, tourism and aviation players have been urged to use the period to come up with fresh ideas and re-configure the industry as well prepare for life after the virus.
COVID-19 is already having huge negative impact on global economies and the tourism fraternity has been hit hard by the ban on flights at international level.
In Zimbabwe, the impact of the virus has seen state-owned airline, Air Zimbabwe, put workers on indefinite unpaid leave after revenue dried up
Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) President Ms. Winnie Muchanyuka last week said the banning of flights has had a huge impact on the country’s tourism sector, which was beginning to show signs of improvement in recent months.
“It is crucial at this time as business we take this downtime to reflect and check our system and see how we have been conducting business pre-Covid-19.
“Are they areas we can improve, just to relook our business and see how we improve on efficiency, be innovative and use this time to think to think outside the hustle and bustle of normal operations,” said Muchanyuka, who is the country director for Southern Africa of South African Airways.
She said it was inevitable that there will be job losses in the industry.
This comes as the International Air Transport Association said potential revenue loss by carriers in Africa and the Middle East had reached US$23 billion (US$19 billion in the Middle East and US$4 billion in Africa).
This translates into a drop of industry revenues of 32% for Africa and 39% for the Middle East for 2020 as compared to 2019.
“We are going to have to cut back post Covid-19 to be able to recover. It’s inevitable. Business at this time needs to look at how they are going to market their product and services, what product and services are going to be critical to for companies to get back as quickly as possible and start operations again,” she said.
In the first 3 months of the pandemic, the global economy has lost around USD3,2 trillion.
Economists predict that if the pandemic is not stopped by August 2020, the world will plunge into a recession much worse than 1929. This catastrophe plunging the industrialized world into darkness will do more damage for fragile economies in Africa
