Travel Industry "Driven to Survival Cliff by COVID-19... Realistic Support Measures Needed"

On the 22nd, small business owners belonging to the Emergency Survival Measures Committee for the Travel Industry held a press conference in front of the Blue House Fountain in Jongno-gu, Seoul, urging the guarantee of the right to survival for travel industry workers. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] The travel industry, facing the brink of collapse due to COVID-19, has urged the government to guarantee their right to survival.

The Travel Industry Emergency Survival Committee held a press conference in front of the Blue House fountain on the 22nd, stating, "We will continue to urge the government and appeal to the public until realistic support measures are implemented to restore the collapsed travel industry ecosystem and rebuild the tourism sector."

They demanded ▲ the provision of the 4th disaster relief fund and the enactment of a loss compensation law treating the travel industry as a business subject to gathering bans ▲ expansion of unsecured credit loans from the Tourism Promotion Development Fund and easing of loan conditions ▲ reduction or deferment of employers' burden for employees' four major social insurance premiums ▲ relaxation of the 14-day self-quarantine standard ▲ designation of the tourism industry as a disaster-affected sector and enactment of a special law for support.

The committee cited the results of a nationwide survey conducted by the Korea Association of Travel Agents through Gallup from September to October last year, covering 17,664 travel agencies nationwide. It revealed that the industry's annual sales last year were estimated at 2.058 trillion won, a decrease of 83.7% compared to about 12.6 trillion won in 2019. They also claimed that out of 82,668 workers in the travel industry, at least 17,000 lost their jobs, and including those on leave, about 48,000 workers are currently unable to work.