Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Seventy-one percent of enterprises in the hospitality industryresponding to a recent survey said their revenue in the first quarter of 2020 fellmore than 30 percent against the same period last year because of the COVID-19pandemic.
Thesurvey was conducted from April 13-17 by the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB)and the Private Economic Development Research Board under the Government’sAdvisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform, in collaboration withGrant Thornton Ltd. and VnExpress, to assess the impacts of the pandemic onhospitality companies and to propose suitable supportive policies for the government's consideration.
A totalof 394 enterprises responded to the survey, of which 51.4 percent were touroperators, 15.3 percent hotels, and 14.2 percent transport companies. Some 92percent of respondents were small and medium-sized enterprises with less than100 employees, Hoang Nhan Chinh, Director of the TAB’s Secretariat, said onApril 21.
Some 77percent of respondents said revenue may plunge even further in the secondquarter of 2020, perhaps by as much as 80 percent.
Sixty-fivepercent of hotel respondents said Q1 revenue was less than 30 percent of the figurein the first quarter of last year. About one-third said Q1 average room rateswere equal to just 30 to 50 percent of rates last year.
Around 18percent of respondents have laid off all of their employees while 48 percenthave laid off 50 to 80 percent. Some 75 percent have provided different types offinancial support to laid-off staff.
Most muststill pay rentals, salaries, and interest during the temporary closure orderedby the government to contain the spread of COVID-19. Only 4 percent indicated theyhave not incurred any extra costs because of the pandemic.
Some 82.7percent of respondents said operations could return to normal at the beginningof Q3 while 41.1 percent forecast they will not be likely to rebound before2021.
About72.6 percent said they want to receive support from the government or beallowed to defer their tax payments, insurance premiums, and other payables, whileover 88 percent expect government guarantees when applying for loans./.
