China News Service, September 27. According to the US "World Journal" report, some experts in Chinatown pointed out that the biggest impact of the epidemic on Chinatown in New York is the catering and tourism industries, because these two industries are the pillar industries of Chinatown.
The owner of New York's Fuyao Cantonese Restaurant believes that during the epidemic, the catering industry in New York's Chinatown "has the heaviest loss."
His restaurant happened to be located on Kenney Road, the main street of Chinatown, near Broadway Avenue.
He said that from March 16 to July 27, 2020, Fu Yao Cantonese Restaurant was forced to close.
"Restaurant turnover has dropped by 80% in 2020." It has been a year since the restaurant has reopened, but the turnover still does not reach the level of 2019.
"Compared with 2019, the turnover in 2021 is still down by 50%."
Zongheng Group is a travel company run by Chinese.
The president of the company, Mr. Sun, said that the epidemic was a "fatal blow" to New York's tourism industry.
In March 2020, after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia in New York City, the New York City government decided to close the city.
Tourism is a non-essential industry and can only be closed.
In 2019, there were more than 300 employees in Zongheng Group, which dropped to four after the outbreak.
Now, the company's business has begun to recover, and the staff has increased to more than 20 people.
"However, the company's performance is only 10% of the past."
The new crown pneumonia epidemic changes the catering ecology
The owner of Fu Yao Cantonese Restaurant said that before the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, tourists accounted for 70-80% of restaurants on Wu Street in Chinatown, while tourists and Chinese students in his restaurant accounted for only 60%.
Because of the epidemic, many international students have returned, but new students are not coming.
40% of the customers in the restaurant are locals, but now the number of local customers has decreased.
In the past, 90% of lunch guests were white-collar workers in nearby offices, but now they work at home.
Most of the shops near the restaurant are closed.
The dining ecology has changed. He estimates that a quarter of restaurants have not reopened.
He said that many restaurants are busy at the end of the year, and his restaurants are just the opposite.
"We are the busiest graduation season for college students in May each year." Every May, a group of international students graduate and their parents go to the United States to attend graduation ceremonies.
"The children will bring their parents to my restaurant." However, after the outbreak, graduation ceremonies were held online, and parents of students could not go to the United States.
"In May of this year, there was no such guest."
With the relief of the epidemic, although restaurant business has gradually recovered, it now mainly relies on takeaway.
"Before the epidemic, dine-in food accounted for 80% and takeaway only 20%, but now the ratio is reversed." He revealed that he cooperated with seven food delivery platforms and there were seven machines in the restaurants.
"These takeaway platforms have their own advantages." For example, Panda takeaways are only delivered to the local area, while priority purchases can be delivered to other states.
"In addition, we also have our own delivery service."
He said there are several reasons for the decrease in restaurants in Chinatown.
Due to inflation, prices have become expensive.
However, it is difficult for restaurants to raise prices.
If the business is better, the expenses will increase, and more people will need to be hired.
However, some people would rather receive unemployment benefits than work.
The turnover of restaurant staff in New York is also very serious.
In addition, the law and order in Chinatown has also deteriorated.
"If the epidemic is over, if the security is not good, tourists will not dare to come." He said that in the past, guests ate in restaurants and sometimes ate late without worrying.
"Now, when they see that it's getting late, they don't want to eat anymore and go home quickly."
The dishes at Fu Yao Cantonese Restaurant are new-style Cantonese cuisine, which is different from traditional Cantonese cuisine.
He said that these dishes are all designed by their chefs and the requirements are relatively high.
At the same time, they have to update the menu every three months to cater to the needs of young people.
“Young people use their mobile phones to search first, and the well-shaped dishes can attract their attention.” Therefore, his Cantonese restaurant attracts many Chinese students.
Most of these international students study at New York University and Columbia University, and go to Chinatown to eat Chinese food in pairs at night.
The owner of Tan Tou Wang Ji in New York said that Tan Tou Wang Ji has been established for more than ten years and currently has two branches in Chinatown, one each in Flushing and Brooklyn.
He said that the business of the Chinatown branch has not been good in recent years.
In the past, Chinatown was a tourist attraction that mainland Chinese people wanted to see.
At present, tourists mainly come from the United States and Europe, and there are no tourists from mainland China.
He said that as young Chinese people moved out of Chinatown, most of the rest were old Chinese people living in government buildings.
"These people have low spending power." In the past, Chinatown had many large restaurants, mainly relying on wedding celebrations and community gatherings, but now there are no celebrations and gatherings, and large restaurants are closed.
No tourism Chinatown loses support
Mr. Yuan, a senior tourist in New York, said that the tourism industry is the backbone of Chinatown.
However, after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, there were no tourists.
There are very few travel companies left in Chinatown.
"Only a few companies are still operating, mainly to pick up people at the airport." The travel company stopped the tour bus and removed the license plate to save insurance.
Some hotels were converted into shelters, where the refugees were admitted and the government paid for them.
He said that international tourists must see several attractions in New York, such as the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and Chinatown.
And these attractions are in the lower part of Manhattan.
He said that tourists come to Chinatown mainly to eat and shop.
In the past, when the summer tourist season came, Chinese restaurants were too busy because of the large number of customers.
He said that there is a reason why tourists go to Chinatown for dinner, that is, the Chinese food in Chinatown is good and cheap.
He said that restaurants can do takeaways and do business online, but the tourism industry cannot do so.
The biggest loss tourist talents leave
Mr. Sun said that for the Chinese tourism industry, the biggest loss is the loss of talents.
These people are the backbone of New York's tourism industry, including sales staff, tour guides and bus drivers.
He said that the US tourism industry is recovering, but it may take two to three years to fully recover.
"I estimate that even if the tourism industry fully recovers, only some people will come back."
The first category is sales talent.
Whether it is a large travel group or a small travel agency, this is the case.
Sales staff have changed their careers. Some sell masks, some do online sales, and some do purchases on Taobao.
He estimated that in 2019, there will be more than 300 travel agencies, large and small, in New York City, but only 10% have persisted until now.
The second category is tour guides.
He said that tour guides are talents with clear thinking and flexible minds.
They have a better grasp of time and can adapt to changes.
However, when the epidemic came, tourists stopped and tour guides were unemployed.
As a result, many tour guides go to drive Uber, some to deliver food, and others to work in restaurants.
"They are still passionate about being tour guides, but there is no way."
Bus drivers are the third category.
Because there are no tourists, the buses are parked in the parking lot.
Some companies bought the bus with a loan, and the bank dragged the bus away because the loan could not be repaid.
As a result, many bus drivers went to get a license to drive a large truck.
In the past, the line from New York to Los Angeles was short of drivers for large trucks, so bus drivers went to run this line.
They drive container trucks to transport furniture, wood and bricks, earning two to three hundred yuan a day.
Mr. Yuan, a veteran of New York's tourism industry, was surprised at the speed with which tourism practitioners are changing careers.
He said that there are more than 1,000 Chinese tour guides in Chinatown.
After no business, the tour guides quickly changed their careers. Some opened a driving school, some went to Amazon for delivery, and some set up a street stall in Flushing to sell some antiques, pendants, and crafts.
Some bus drivers took off the seats of the coaches and went to deliver goods to people.
"The Eight Immortals crossed the sea, each showing their abilities."
Mr. Sun said that before the epidemic, Zongheng Group was headquartered in Chinatown.
However, after the outbreak, they withdrew their Chinatown companies and moved all of them to Flushing, Queens.
At the same time, the remaining employees work at home.
Therefore, the epidemic has a greater impact on commercial buildings in Manhattan's Chinatown.
Government tax increases, hotels severely affected
Mr. Lin, President of the Lin Group of New York, said that the Manhattan hotel industry may hurt more than restaurants, because hotel rooms cannot be taken out and there is no compensation.
Currently, international flights cannot fly to New York, so there are no international tourists, only domestic tourists.
Although the number of customers has increased, the charges are only half of what they used to be, and the occupancy is only more than 60%, and the expenses are larger than before.
He said that the hotel that closed during the epidemic may disappear forever, with 30,000 rooms missing.
He estimates that during the epidemic, airlines and restaurants can receive subsidies from the government based on business losses, but the hotel industry has no subsidies.
He said that each room has to pay about $120,000 in land tax each year.
If there were 350 rooms, it would have to pay about $4 million in property taxes.
At the same time, the occupancy tax has to be increased by more than 10%, and more than 6 million U.S. dollars have to be paid.
In this way, a hotel pays more than 10 million U.S. dollars in taxes to the government every year.
Moreover, the government has to pay the property tax in advance for 6 months at the hotel. If it is not paid in advance, it will pay interest, and it will not pay interest in advance.
The hotel industry is most concerned about land tax and future prospects.
He said that the hotel business has dropped by 80%, but the government will use the 2019 business to collect land tax in 2020, so all hotel revenue is used to pay the land tax, and the government has collected 80% of the land tax.
In 2021, the government will not calculate the turnover in 2020, but use the market value of real estate to calculate it. Taxes will be increased immediately when the business starts, and it will not decrease when the business declines.
As a result, some hotels sued the government for overcharging the land tax by 80%, but won the lawsuit and returned millions of dollars.
"The Hotel Chamber of Commerce mobilized all hotels to sue the government to recover the overcharged land tax."
He estimated that after the epidemic, New York hotel charges will be higher because there are fewer hotels.
Therefore, a large number of travel agencies arrange tourists to live in the nearby New Jersey, which will affect New York business and night business.
Single structure is easy to be impacted
Zhou Min, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied Chinatowns in the United States in his early years.
She believes that due to the single and relatively concentrated commercial industry structure in Chinatown, the blow is more serious.
"Many stores are closed, and the entire Chinatown looks very sluggish."
She said that the epidemic has a greater impact on Chinatowns in the city than on suburban Chinatowns.
Generally speaking, the scale of Chinatowns in urban areas is relatively small, there are many traditional small and medium-sized enterprises, and the industrial structure is single.
"Once the business is closed, the community will be directly impacted." The economy of suburban Chinatown is diversified, and the transformation is easier and the impact is small.
"This is related to the structure of the industry, but also to the source of customers."
In Chinatown, small and medium-sized enterprises account for the majority, of which the catering service industry is the main one.
The objects of corporate services are local residents and overseas tourists.
"As soon as the epidemic broke out, the government required non-essential enterprises and businesses to suspend business, restricting international and domestic tourism." Restaurants and shops lost their customers and were directly affected.
Owners have no income, and migrant workers are unemployed.
Even if some Chinese restaurants immediately changed to take-out, they still could not make a living due to insufficient take-out volume.
She pointed out that another aspect of the impact on Chinatown is the disconnection of the international supply chain.
Some of the retail sales in Chinatown come from overseas.
"Countries are being blocked, traffic is blocked, and labor shortages are causing the supply chain to break." This effect is linked to each other and has a chain reaction.
(Han Jie)