How Will Businesses Manage This Re-opening Timetable?

The Australian Chamber of Tourism has released the proposed re-opening timetable for tourism-related businesses.

The greater impact these businesses have on the economy in many of the countries the BBX B2B Community is established is yet to be realised. Our teams are in contact with thousands of business owners each day across 11 countries and the messages are the same;

 Let’s focus on Hospitality

 The hospitality industry covers a variety of business, all focused on money spent on leisure. Some of the categories of businesses are:

• Travel - Flights, trains, boats, buses, and rental cars
• Hotels - Motels, beds and breakfasts, and rental condos.
• Food and Beverage - Restaurants, bars, and cafes.
• Entertainment - Movies, theatre, and sports.
• Tourist attractions - Historical sites, museums, and parks.

Traditional bank lending is not available for businesses. For example in NZ if you are in the Hospitality industry, you are currently excluded from any major banks lending policy. The NZ Hospitality industry employs over 130,000 people and its yearly revenues exceed $14 billion NZD. The question is, who will be supporting these businesses financially if the banks are not ready too?

The Tourism revenues of Singapore have been hovering around the Singaporean $ 23 billion marks in the past few years and dipping towards the Singaporean $ 21 Billion marks in the last couple of years. The biggest loser due to this stagnation has been the Hotel industry in Singapore.

One of the main issues with the hotel industry in Singapore in 2016 was the Zika virus. The Zika virus outbreak had dissuaded people from traveling. Over 240 cases of the virus, which is spread by mosquitos, were seen in the city after the first case was noted. When Singapore suffered from the SARS virus in 2003, there was a 70 percent drop in visitors during the first three months of the scare. This sent hotel occupancy down over 40 percent. Room rates dropped close to 20 percent. However, the hotel industry of Singapore has recovered from the same but still fights the issue of stagnating global demand.

The prediction is the impact of Covid-19 will be much worse than the Zika/Sars and this will be compounded to a global effect rather than concentrated on Asia.

Will the fintech industry step up and support global businesses?

From talking to many fintech industry leaders the answer is YES!

Our business, BBX, now classified as a fintech pioneer in the Barter Industry, has stepped up and is reaching out to as many Business Chambers and Associations as possible. Our teams are working hard to align with these associations and provide businesses with much needed financial support in the BBX platform.

If you are positioned to help businesses through the COVID Economy, reach out to us and get behind business owners within our communities.