As overseas travel has been suspended for more than a year and a half due to COVID-19, the travel industry is standing on the edge of a cliff.
Kang Soon-young, who runs a travel agency in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, opened a laundromat in one side of her office a year ago.
It was because they could not afford the fixed expenses such as rent and living expenses because they did not generate a single penny in sales.
In the evenings, he also works part-time for delivery.
There are only 7 representatives of travel companies who have made extreme choices due to extreme hardship after the corona crisis.
Representatives of small and medium-sized travel agencies are protesting that the government is turning away from the travel industry.
The airline and hotel industries were also hit hard.
Low-cost airlines started massive layoffs or recommended resignations last year.
Airline pilots were also included on the list of layoffs, and there are many cases in which pilots who are experiencing hardships are driving substitutes.
Ahn Shin-ae, a flight attendant at a foreign airline, also resigned after one year of joining the company when she was forced to endure the unpaid leave.
Hotels, which were intended for foreign tourists, etc., went out of business and closed.
Earlier this year, the Sheraton Seoul Palace Gangnam and Le Méridien Hotel were sold to real estate developers and closed.
The Millennium Hilton Hotel in downtown Seoul is also under discussion.
On the other hand, the number of visitors to Jeju Island this year increased by 660,000 compared to last year.
It is analyzed that the demand for overseas travel is moving to Jeju Island.
However, even among local companies, there are differences.
This is because they prefer small-scale independent tours over package tours due to the prohibition of gatherings.
As a result of the coverage, rental car companies and pensions enjoyed special benefits, while chartered buses and mid-priced hotels still had difficulties.
The government has announced that it will allow vaccinated people to travel abroad in groups starting next month.
Large travel agencies are responding quickly by launching overseas package tours for those who have been vaccinated.
However, experts say that it is difficult to normalize overseas travel immediately.
This is because the number of flights and the number of arrivals are limited in the initial stage, and there are many variables such as mutant viruses.
In this week's <News Story>, we would like to highlight the reality of the travel industry, which has been hit hard by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, and when overseas travel will return to normal.