IT HAS been a gloomy year for the travel business. The covid-19 pandemic has wrecked airlines, cruise-ship operators and many other parts of the industry. With the end of the northern hemisphere’s summer holidays, things may get gloomier still. The World Travel & Tourism Council, a trade body, this summer increased its forecast of the number of travel jobs that will be lost because of the pandemic worldwide to 197.5m, or around 60% of the total before coronavirus hit.
Even as lockdowns have been relaxed, and some travel has resumed, airlines, cruise lines and tour operators are all still losing money hand over fist.
