Role reversal sees Asia restricting visitors
>> From quarantining arriving travelers from overseas to nabbing those sneaking in with fevers, China and other parts of Asia are scrambling to prevent the coronavirus from coming back to where it first broke out.
Beijing, which has identified 18 imported cases in the past week, announced it would require anyone arriving from overseas to quarantine for 14 days.
Parks, attractions reopen in China
>> With the worst of the coronavirus outbreak now hopefully behind them, cities across China are trying to get back to normal, with parks and tourist attractions reopening and travel restrictions being loosened.
However, with the threat of infection and person-to-person transmission still a danger, visitors must have their temperature checked on arrival and wear a face mask for their stay.
Hong Kong Disneyland attendance down 4%
>> Hong Kong Disneyland recorded an 11% rise in revenue for the first nine months of fiscal year 2019. Attendance grew 5% and hotel occupancy increased by eight percentage points year-over-year. But due to significant headwinds in the fourth quarter, annual attendance decreased 4% to 6.5 million. For the full year, hotel occupancy stood at 74%.
Agoda offers long-term stays
>> Digital travel platform Agoda has rolled out long-term stay offerings of more than 30 days and up to 90 days for its users. The company said the extended booking option will help its accommodation partners boost occupancy during low travel periods and give them a smaller guest turnover to manage.
Coronavirus forces TUI to suspend holidays
>> TUI has announced that it is suspending hotel stays, package holidays and cruises until further notice. The German-based tour company said it is suspending most of its operations in light of the deepening coronavirus crisis, and is applying for government help.
Accor strengthens agility amid outbreak
>> Accor announces that it has completed the sale of an 85.8% stake in Orbis to AccorInvest for EUR 1.06 billion and the sale of Mövenpick hotels’ lease portfolio with a EUR 430 million positive impact on net debt.
As of the end of February, the group recorded a 4.5% decline in its RevPAR on the same period in 2019 like-for-like. RevPAR in February was down by 10.2%. Over the first two months of the year, this net decline has had an EUR 20 million impact on EBITDA. The decline has accelerated since the last week of February across Europe, particularly in Italy, France and Germany.
Trip.com-invested hotelier reports virus impact
>> Zhejiang New Century Hotel, a hotel company backed by Trip.com Group, said it suspended operations at five properties for 38 days due to the coronavirus, causing a downward adjustment of the base rent by RMB 20.77 million in aggregate from RMB 200.00 million to RMB 179.23 million.
China’s scheduled air capacity to rise 25%
>> China’s scheduled airline capacity looks set to rise by almost 25% this week. There will be about 10.8 million available seats in the country’s network during the week beginning March 16, according to OAG Schedules Analyser. This compares with 8.7 million this week, which commenced March 9.
Airlines will go bust on quarantine rule
>> The chief executive of Flight Centre warned of widespread airline collapses in the wake of tough new quarantine restrictions by Australia's Federal Government, and a much bigger downturn in the country's economy because travel would all but cease.
Graham Turner said it was an unprecedented decision by the Federal Government to impose a 14-day self-quarantine rule for travellers that he didn't think would work in containing the coronavirus.
The Autralian travel group has announced it will withdraw its 2020 yearly earnings guidance and close 100 stores amid an industry-wide downturn because of the pandemic.
>> United Airlines announced that it plans to reduce its capacity by 50% for April and May, and cut its corporate officers’ salary by 50%.
>> Delta will park up to 300 aircraft, or 40% capacity as cancellations are exceeding new bookings for travel over the next four weeks.
>> American Airlines said it will suspend 75% of its long-haul international flights from the US, beginning March 16.
>> Hawaiian Airlines said it will cut capacity by 8% to 10% next month and by 15% to 20% in May as demand for air travel drops.
>> EasyJet, Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways parent company IAG have warned of "significant cancellations" as airlines struggle to deal with travel restrictions and a drop in demand due to coronavirus.
>> Lufthansa Group’s airlines will continue operating some flights to the US past March 14 despite President Donald Trump’s restrictions on non-citizens entering the country from 26 European countries.
>> Scandinavian airline SAS will temporarily lay off up to 10,000 employees, or 90% of its workforce, in response to the fallout from the coronavirus and related measures from authorities that have restricted international air travel.
>> Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific is adding back some flights to the US over the coming days, which counters the global trend. The capacity increase is because the airline “understands that many Hong Kong students and citizens in North America are eager to come home as soon as possible in time for the Easter break.”
>> Passenger numbers at Hong Kong airport slumped 68% in February from a year earlier as the coronavirus outbreak decimated demand and led to immigration restrictions, and quarantine measures in different parts of the world.
>> Air New Zealand will slash its long-haul capacity by 85%, suspend some routes to North America and Asia and begin job cuts amid travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
African nations close borders, cancel flights
>> Several African countries closed borders on Sunday, canceled flights and imposed strict entry and quarantine requirements to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
