Coronavirus takes aim at the US$1.7 trillion global tourism industry as leisure and business travellers stay home

On Lake Como in northern Italy, spring normally spells the return of the tourists. The likes of George Clooney descend on waterfront villas, couples wander the cobbled streets and design fairs fill hotel rooms with well-heeled travellers. This year, because of the coronavirus, hoteliers are wondering whether the visitors will come at all.

Hotels in the area saw more than half their bookings cancelled in three days last week as the virus spread through northern Italy in the biggest outbreak outside Asia. Now innkeepers are waiting anxiously to see the impact on the all-important summer months.

“We had our ups and downs in the past, but nothing like this,” said Roberto Cassani, 58, president of the Como hotel operators’ association. “American tourists in particular seem to be victims of a collective psychosis. I am really worried.”

As an illness that broke out in China goes global, the tourism business faces a growing threat. Many of the Chinese travellers who have driven the industry’s expansion were already staying home, after the government locked down tens of millions of people and banned sales of package tours. That emptied lodgings in the casino hotspot of Macau, cleared beaches across Southeast Asia and eliminated lines outside Louis Vuitton boutiques in Paris.

Even as the viral spread slows in China, it’s taking off elsewhere, including South Korea and Italy, which together have reported more than 8,000 of the global total of some 93,000 cases.