TIRANA, Feb. 28 – The outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy has affected the plans of many Albanians to visit the neighboring country for both holiday and business purposes. According to Monitor, Jeta Hoxha, a travel agent at Union Travel, claims that cancellations were made for business trips, or even individual tickets for an indefinite period of time. “A conference in Milan has been canceled in recent days, and there have been cancellations by individuals and groups. About 40% of planned trips to Italy have been canceled,” she said during the interview with Monitor.
Alban Zusi, President of the Albanian Export Center, stated earlier that managers’ movements to Italy have been restricted and this will be reflected in business performance, as some relationships are necessary for close contacts. Other exporters claim there were cancellations of trade fairs and trips planned in Italy.
The rapid spread of the virus in Europe has sparked fear in other European countries as well. Hoxha added that although March 8 is approaching, which usually comes with numerous tourist trips by women’s groups, there is general hesitation. “There is a general fear to travel via buses, as they are closed areas and there is closer contact between people,” she claims. The most popular destination for March 8 remains Budva, however, so far most of the cancellations have been towards Italy.
The neighboring country remains the main destination of flights to and from Rinas, accounting for 50 percent of total passenger traffic during 2019, according to official data from Tirana International Airport. The main destination continues to be Rome, with 334,000 passengers in 2019, up by 1.8 percent year-on-year. Rome serves not only as a direct destination, but also as a transit point for travelling to other countries in Europe.
The second destination is Milan, where the effects of the outbreak are being felt the most, with 317,000 passengers and up by 12 percent on an annual basis, while third is Bergamo, with 169,000 passengers in 2019. Other Italian destinations that have witnessed a significant increase were Venice (22 percent), Genoa (37 percent), Pisa (17 percent), Bologna (20 percent). As a result, with the reduction of the movement of people towards Italy, airlines are beginning to suffer major losses.
Foreign media reports stated that Italy has announced many booking cancellations which were made for the Easter holiday in April. According to Italian ‘Il Sole’, in Italy, the tourism sector is worth a total of 146 billion euros: a figure equal to 12 percent of GDP, composed of a chain of 216,000 accommodation units and 12,000 travel agencies.
OECD forecast
According to the OECD scenario, global economic growth will be 2.4 percent this year, from the 2.9 percent forecast in November. However, it also warns that the economic impact of the spread of the virus remains highly uncertain and growth could decline much further, at nearly 1.5 percent.
Countries closely linked to China such as Japan, Australia and Korea will also suffer economic damage after factories and cities have been shut down to prevent the virus, according to OECD.
China’s economic downturn will be short-lived. It will fall from 6.1 percent in 2019 to less than 5 percent this year before recovering in 2021. “The virus risks giving a further blow to a global economy that was already weakened by trade and political tensions,” said OECD chief economist Laurence Boone.
However, in order to mitigate the economic impact, employees should be allowed to work from home and governments need to take concrete steps to support the most affected sectors such as tourism, travel, transport and manufacturing industries.
“Governments must take immediate action to prevent the epidemic, support the health care system, protect people, increase demand and provide financial salvation for the most affected families and businesses. Central banks need to provide additional liquidity to banks so they can help businesses that suffer immediate money loss problems,” the OECD report states.
