As one of the most iconic tourist hotspots in Brussels, Hotel Metropole has been welcoming guests from around the world since 1895.
But after months of lockdown, the hotel is on the verge of closing down, with the loss of 129 jobs. For Rodolphe Van Weyenbergh, the general secretary of the Brussels Hotel Association, this could be an omen for what is to come for the rest of the tourism sector.
The coronavirus pandemic is likely to have a huge impact on tourism across Europe, to which it contributes 10% of GDP, accounts for 27 million direct and indirect jobs and is made up of almost three million businesses, most of them small companies. At world level, the estimated loss of revenue is expected to be between 275-400 billion euros, said Sonya Gospodinova, an EU Commission spokesperson.
Life after lockdown: Will COVID-19 change the way we travel forever? “For Europe restaurants and hotels would lose 50% of their revenues. The most impacted are the airlines and cruise operators 90% and 70% of loss for tour operations and other travel agencies.” In 2020 alone, tourist traffic will be down 20-30% according to the World Tourism Organization.
The European Commission is calling for a “new Marshall Plan”, using money from the EU budget to save the tourist industry. Tourism will be also one of the first beneficiaries of the Recovery Fund. But nobody can yet predict the real result of the crisis, which depends on the duration and a possible second wave of infections.
A special summit on tourism is pencilled for later this year, but with the summer months approaching fast, EU countries like Greece, Spain and Malta will be hoping for more short-term measures to ensure they can make back some of their losses.
Source: Euro News
Finnish site 
Global site