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Highlights
- Sharp resurgence of Covid cases in European countries has increased the uncertainty
- France has registered more than 50,000 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Saturday
- Covid-led cancellations and unwillingness of people has increased troubles for businesses
The ever-evolving nature of Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus has kept the anxiousness alive amidst the consumers with the back-to-back mutations and more contagious variants of concerns. The sharp resurgence of cases in European countries with the Austrian government announcing a nation-wide lockdown and many other European, as well as Asian regions contemplating the situation to reimpose similar restrictions to curb the spread of virus.
Tightened Covid situation
Yesterday itself, over 40,000 people protested against lockdown in Vienna, marching through the streets to express their dissent towards the proposal of making Covid jabs compulsory.
With Germany declaring a country-wide lockdown for unvaccinated individuals, the country has effectively banned the non-immunised crowd from accessing the public places including supermarkets, pharmacies and other settings of large gatherings. France has registered more than 50,000 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, even as the country progresses ahead with the faster roll-out of the booster shot.
New South Wales authorities have recently confirmed five new Omicron cases in Sydney, Australia, while the United States authorities have confirmed six more cases as of Friday. Meanwhile, India’s Omicron tally has reached 5 with New Delhi reporting its first case, alongside with the country reporting 2,796 deaths.
Amidst the Asian countries, Japan has been planning to add four US states, India, Romania and Greece under stern self-isolation as a part of its reciprocatory measures to control the spread of Omicron variant in the country.
Impact on hospitality
Higher number of Christmas booking cancellations with lower number of people travelling to overseas locations due to heightened border control measures, the aviation and hospitality settings, mainly the food and accommodation businesses are likely to be hit, as far as the festive-season revenues are concerned. Most of the business owners were expecting a sharp surge in the trading volumes in the Christmas season and the year-ender holidays for the first time after 2019.
As a large section nations reintroduce the self-isolation mandate until receiving a negative Covid result, alongside restricting the travellers from ‘at risk’ countries, the reluctance to travel abroad has increased among the people as uncertainty around the Covid activity has spiralled with the widespread emergence of Omicron variant, its lesser-known risks and the transmissibility.
A number of enterprises operating within the hospitality industry were already reeling under the operative doldrums including the short-staffed operations, supply side troubles, untimeliness of orders, escalated input prices and dearth of raw materials. The July-September quarter has seen a mixed response from hospitality businesses across the world, subdued trading mix in the present quarter will further delay the time of recovery.
