In light of the covid-19 virus spreading globally, the hospitality industry is among those hardest hit. The order to shelter in place means that a lot of people are forced to stay home in order to flatten the curve and stop the spread of the virus. With global numbers of positive cases reaching millions, accommodation facilities in Sydney and the rest of Australia have also adopted their own measures to cope. Nowadays, isolation accommodation in Sydney is on the rise and this trend is expected to continue in the weeks (or months) to come until the pandemic is contained.
How Hotels and Hospitality Accommodations Were Impacted
As the spread of the virus has reached exponential levels, hospitals were faced with an unprecedented challenge. Medical staff and frontliners found themselves outnumbered by patients. In fact, many of those who are asymptomatic (not showing symptoms) or have mild symptoms are asked to stay home and self-isolate. This will give priority to those who are in dire need of medical care to stay in hospitals and under the care of medical staff.
For the people who needed to self-isolate, this brings another important question: where do they go? Going back home is not an option. This is especially true among those who have elderly individuals or immune-compromised individuals staying with them at home. Even if neither of these applied to affected individuals, the risk of exposing your family and loved ones to the virus is still not a risk many people were willing to take
Hence, the hotel and accommodation industry has delivered to those in need. Many hotel businesses and self-serviced accommodation in Sydney have responded to the call and have shown their willingness to provide self-isolation facilities to those in need. Hospitals have been converted into quarantine and self-isolation centres. The same goes with other types of accommodations such as self-serviced apartments. While the demand for hotel and apartment accommodations for tourism has dropped, there emerged a new way for them to better serve those who are in need of a place to stay, albeit temporarily.
But aside from those who might be in need of a self-isolation facility, some hotels and apartments also provided a space for the homeless. Hotel and accommodation owners worked closely with health authorities to explore ways on how to go about this moving forward. This is also to ensure that the proper health and safety measures are in place among the temporary residents who will self-isolate in these facilities. This is just one of the ways that the hotel and accommodation industry is providing the government its much needed respite in this time of public health crisis.
With some of the restrictions on covid-19 slowly being lifted, going back to what was considered normal is still a part of a distant future. With no vaccine in sight, those who want to seek refuge through isolation accommodation will undoubtedly find a secure and safe place to shelter in. No one knows – not even health authorities – know exactly when the complete lifting of all restrictions will end. But you can rest assured that there is a place for you to stay in, whether you are a local in Sydney or a foreigner stuck in Australia.
How the Accommodation Industry Will Bounce Back
It is no secret that the tourism and accommodation industry are among the hardest hit by the pandemic. The technology that has made travel and tourism easy and affordable is no help against the spread of the virus. Looking at the data and losses of the tourism industry is painstaking; it seems to grow as fast as the virus spreads. This is true not just in Australia, but also globally. In fact, many major airlines and tourism businesses were forced to lay off their employees to cope with the losses.
How will the tourism and accommodation industry bounce back from this?
Thankfully, the tourism industry is quite resilient. Historical events and data have shown that it will bounce back. Many bars and cafes, along with local tourism operators are using this time to consolidate and re-structure. This disruption in the tourism industry has also exposed various segments in the tourism market, which opens up new opportunities that were not previously available to most travel companies.
The anticipation for travel among individuals who have been forced to shelter in place is also another advantage that the tourism industry can exploit. Once the restrictions have been fully lifted, you can expect a surge in travel bookings and stays.
Just how fast that recovery is, only time will tell. But the historical data has shown that it will recover – with some experts even saying that the travel and tourism industry came out better after a crisis or global pandemic.
