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The Covid-19 pandemic has erased more than half of the 15.8 million travel-related jobs in the U.S., according to new data released by the U.S. Travel Association.
The new numbers compiled by research firm Tourism Economics show the industry’s unemployment rate has hit 51% heading into Memorial Day, the unofficial start of the summer travel season.
This Memorial Day weekend, Tourism Economics projects that travel spending in the U.S. will total $4.2 billion, or just a third of the $12.3 billion recorded last year. “Our national economy is in a recession, but the travel industry is already in a depression,” said U.S. Travel Association CEO Roger Dow. “Travel-related businesses have been hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic’s fallout, and unfortunately our workforce is on the front lines of that struggle.”
Source: travelweekly.com
What is missing from this country right now is hope, or the lack thereof.
I speak with first-hand knowledge of this. My wife and I both lost our jobs two days apart on March 24. No warning from my boss at all. Just a call at 11am and by 11:10am it was over. Years of service, career, success and loyalty gone in 10 minutes. Companies want you to give them 2 weeks notice, but they can get rid of you in 10 minutes.
The day I was laid off, my health insurance was gone. Gone. COBRA cost $1200 per month and the mortgage was due in 7 days. I am in the travel industry, so the odds of me getting a job anytime soon are as close to zero as possible. No idea when/if my wife will be called back. It has been 2 months, my mortgage will be in forbearance for 4 months, which is a joke ’cause I have to pay it all back at the end of that 4 months. Where I will get money to do so is anyone’s guess. Luckily, I was able to get a semi-Medicaid type health plan via NYS, so we have something in case we are hit with yet another disaster.
Getting back to the hope issue. There are 33+ million stories just like mine out there right now. Some dramatically worse. Those folks need to decide between food, rent and medicine. They line up to get food! This is 2020. We can spend $$$ on defense, Space Force & useless walls, but we can’t provide healthcare and food for our own people. Do you actually think that people have any faith and confidence in the US government, especially this bunch?
What I wrote is reality. What I said is happening right now across the entire country with folks not knowing if they will have a home or an apartment come August. I am scared, truly scared for the first time in my entire life.