Unquestionably, the coronavirus has had a devastating impact on the airline and hotel industries, a fact that has been further evidenced in findings from SEMrush, a trends data analytic firm, which tracked Google search volume for the two travel segments.
The company’s industry-wide, branded airline searches found a 17 percent decline from January through February.
The hardest-hit carriers were Bangkok Airways (-33 percent), China Eastern (-33 percent) and China Southern (-45 percent).
On a brighter note, searches were expected to increase on average by 16.5 percent in March, according to SEMrush.
On the hotel front, SEMrush data uncovered that Google search volume for major global chains dropped, on average, by four percent from January to February. The hardest chains were Raffles Hotels & Resorts (-33 percent), Choice Hotels (-19 percent); and Belmond Aman Resorts, Ritz-Carlton and Disney Resort Hotels, which were down by 18.5 percent.
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