This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.A downtown hotel has lights turned on to make the shape of a heart in Vancouver, on April 7, 2020. The hotel occupancy rate in the week of March 29 to April 4 was just 13 per cent, according to hotel research firm STR.Canadian hotels have lost most of their business, sending revenues plunging and resulting in more than 200,000 job losses as the coronavirus pandemic halts travel.
“These are unprecedented numbers,” said Jan Freitag, a senior vice-president with STR. “The high end of the market depends disproportionately on groups and meetings and the corporate travel. Those two sources have basically evaporated,” he said. The jobs are among the lowest paid positions in the labour market and no one is certain how quickly the travel industry will bounce back.
Many hotels have chosen to temporarily close instead of remaining open. More than half of all hotels are now closed, according to the Hotel Association of Canada, which said the industry has laid off 80 per cent of its work force or about 250,000 jobs.
globebusiness Is this news?
globebusiness Who would have guessed? Glad you postedthis for me. Ha
globebusiness Once again, please file under the heading “information I don’t need journalists to tell me”
globebusiness