Sentiment Survey: The Effects Of COVID-19 On Hospitality & Travel Industry Staff And Owners

Sentiment Survey: Effects Of COVID-19 On Hospitality & Travel Industry Staff And Owners

MY RANGGO’s Sentiment Survey: Effects of COVID-19 on Hospitality & Tourism Industry Staff and Owners was launched in June 2020.

We invited business owners and industry employees to take part in a sentiment survey about the effects of COVID-19 on the Hospitality Industry in the Philippines. The survey was closed mid-July 2020.

We had a total of 172 people take part in the Sentiment Survey. 93 people were Hospitality & Tourism employees. 79 were Business Owners, Directors, Partners CEO’s and Senior Managers.

59% of those surveyed worked in, owned or managed a Hotel.
15% of those surveyed worked in, owned or managed a Restaurant or Bar
14% worked for, owned or managed a Travel Agency
6% worked for, owned or managed a Tour Operator
2% worked for, owned or managed a Spa, Retail or Tattoo Studio

Others who took the survey own, manage or work for Dive Centers, Marketing Software for Hotels, a Hotel Supplier, Airline or Cruise.

Survey: Effects of COVID-19 on Hospitality & Tourism – Employees

74 employees who took this survey in June/July were not working or earning; 80% of the total number of employees surveyed.

Whilst is can’t be absolutely stated that this is representative of all of the 5.7 million people working in the Philippine Hospitality & Tourism Industry. If it were, this would mean just over 4.5 million Hospitality & Tourism employees are not currently working or earning.

On top of this, 20% of employees taking the survey have said that they have received no financial assistance or support at all, since the start of ECQ and the loss of their job. And 79% of employees said they were not sure or confident that they would have a job to return to.

This could be why 33% have said that they have either already found work, or created businesses, away from the Industry, or that they are not sure if they will return to their jobs. The Pandemic has shone a light on just how fragile the Tourism Industry can be.

If those employees who have found work or don’t know if they will go back to their jobs is reflected across the 5.7 million working in Travel & Hospitality it will have a detrimental impact on recovery and the Tourism industry’s ability to Bounce Back; nearly 1.9 million people not returning to their jobs.

Survey: Effects of COVID-19 on Hospitality & Tourism – Owners, Directors, Partners & Senior Managers

For almost all of the Owners and Senior Managers surveyed, Domestic Tourism is their main traveler demographic and, therefore, the one they rely on most.

Industry Experts predicted back in March and April 2020 that this was the demographic that would ‘bounce-back’ first, along with Business Travel. Elsewhere in the World the Domestic Tourism prediction has proved to be true. Many travelers are unable to fly anywhere and are holidaying locally, and within their country.

In the Philippines the few destinations that have already opened for people in their regions have seen very few people visiting. And certainly not enough to make it financially viable for the hotels, bars and restaurants being cleared to open in those areas. This is likely due to varying degrees of Community Quarantine across the country, meaning people can’t travel, have faced 5 months of reduced or no income, or found the procedures required to travel, and the need to quarantine on return, was too much.

58% of the Owners and Managers surveyed said that they were Worried or Really Worried about the situation. With 58% worried that their business would not survive,and 47% worried that the Hospitality & Tourism Industry won’t recover.

This must be worrying for all, but particularly for the 37% who have only been operating for 1-3 years, and perhaps only just turning a profit. And the 53% who believe that it will be 1-2 years before their guest numbers are back to pre-COVID Levels.

Download and read the full Sentiment Survey: Effects of COVID-19 on Hospitality & Tourism here

[sg_popup id=”31531″ event=”click” wrap=”span”]