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OYO's Aditya Ghosh offers quarantine facilities across India

Aditya Ghosh, OYO board member, said his firm will do "whatever it takes" to help states in providing quarantine facilities even as the number of coronavirus cases continue to rise steadily. The deadly virus has infected 562 people in India so far and has killed ten. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the nation for the second time on coronavirus on Tuesday, announced a 21-day complete lockdown across India. The lockdown came into effect on March 25. "It's a difficult time for everyone. The PM has shown strong decisive leadership and we fully support the move. There will be a lot of businesses that will go through immediate stress but the focus is to make sure there are enough testing, healthcare facility and assistance available," said Ghosh in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18. "It's a tough time but if we can make it out of this if we do to together," he added. OYO has committed to offering quarantine facilities across India and even in the US. "We will do whatever it takes to aid states in providing quarantine facilities. Before we talk about bailout, stimulus... we need to focus on containment," said Ghosh. "The focus will be on helping quarantine facilities in gateway and intersection points like Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai. These are the areas which have the large airports and the intersection points from where the infection spreads. Biggest risk areas are intersection points and so we have offered whatever help needed in these areas." According to Ghosh, it was not just about creating quarantine areas, but also about providing space for the first responders, the people carrying out the essential services at this time. "First responders like police officers, hospital staff, drivers, watchmen can't keep going back home. We are enabling providing stay options for them. The effort right now is to relieve the pressure from healthcare facilities like hospitals and create as much support as possible," he explains. Ghosh has suggested an approach that corporates can apply while supporting the government. He says firstly, companies need to acknowledge the huge amount of pressure in getting essential goods and groceries and assist in providing facilities, transportation. "There needs to be an acknowledgement that warehouses need labour. Goods are not being delivered due to a lack of transportation. My worry is our daily wage workers will not be able to meet wage bills by the end of the month. I have to call out the efforts that companies like Zomato are doing to create campaigns that ensure keeping the livelihood of daily wage earners. OYO is trying to work with these companies to help daily wage earners in every way possible..." The second point Ghosh raised was on how companies must focus on just essential operations, and try to keep costs down. This would both reduce pressure on the state as well as keep people on payrolls. The third point that Ghosh raised is that of reducing the stigma of the infection. "This is not leprosy or something that needs to be ostracized." When asked about the impact of the virus on the business, Ghosh said that the company had already started feeling the hit due to its global presence, especially in China. "What worked as a silver lining of sorts in this tough time was that we were able to learn from early experiences and implement it in India and other regions immediately. We announced work from home much earlier in India, we put checks in place and maintained health standards much earlier. When we look at a market like China which is ahead of the curve, we are seeing green shoots in terms of recovery," he said. Ghosh, however, said that there will be a massive hit in occupancy, traffic numbers, but temporarily. "Companies like ours are businesses with high variable cost versus fixed cost. When traffic moves up or down, smart businesses will be able to see a lesser impact. When we start turning the corner, products, and services which are in the affordable category, like OYO, should come back very well."

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6,000 Flight Centre staff stood down, 35 per cent of stores to close globally

Travel agency Flight Centre (ASX: FLT) will stand down 30 per cent of its global workforce, including 3,800 Australian employees, as the tourism sector languishes in limbo. Covid-19 has had a dramatic effect on the global tourism sector, with many countries closing borders to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Flight Centre has felt this downturn crush its operations, with total transaction value tracking at 20 to 30 per cent of normal levels globally this month. This has led to management making the tough call of reducing its global workforce by 30 per cent, with 6,000 support and sales roles to be temporarily or permanently stood down globally including 3,800 people in Australia. The travel agency intends to bring the stood-down workforce back to work once travel restrictions are lifted and demand for tourism increases again. Stood-down employees will be offered the opportunity to take up a call centre job in the meantime; Flight Centre says it has been engaging with other potential employees to secure immediate access to more than 10,000 sales and call centre vacancies. Those who take up one of these roles will be able to return to Flight Centre once conditions improve. The company has also been working with the government to give employees who exhaust their accrued leave entitlements rapid access to benefits and support schemes if they are unable to find short-term temporary roles. "We have been forced to make extremely difficult decisions, including temporarily standing down some of our people and cancelling our interim dividend, with a view to preserving more jobs for the future," says Flight Centre managing director Graham Turner. "These people that we are temporarily standing down are a valuable part of our company and, where possible, we aim to bring them back to work as soon as restrictions are lifted and as demand starts to increase." After previously announcing the closure of 100 under-performing retail shops the company says it has accelerated and extended its leisure shop closure plans globally and could now close around 30 per cent of its outlets across multiple brands in Australia and 35 per cent of leisure shops globally over the next few months. "Changes to these plans are likely if market conditions deteriorate further, if restrictions are in place for an extended period or if demand rebounds more rapidly than currently expected," says Flight Centre. The company's board and senior executives will forego 50 per cent of pay until at least the end of FY20 and short-term incentive payments for the remainder of 2020. The group's $15 million-per-month sales and marketing spend has been suspended to preserve cash while travellers are effectively unable to take off either domestically or internationally. Because of the impact on its income FLT has begun renegotiating rental agreements with landlords. These discussions to date have been positive according to FLT, with potential cost savings including rent-free periods and more flexible trading hours on the table. "We are also making other changes to reduce costs, preserve cash and help the company overcome the current challenges that our industry and almost all businesses now face," says Turner. "In making any changes, we will be extremely conscious of the impact on all stakeholders and will seek solutions that minimise the effects on any one group." "We will also be conscious of the need to make changes that allow us to successfully overcome this short-term challenge, but do not harm our culture or prevent us from thriving into the future." The remaining Flight Centre team is currently engaged in assisting customers to make it back to their homes; a difficult task considering many airlines have effectively cancelled all international travel and borders are effectively shut both inbound and outbound. A team is in place to consider all options, including booking charter flights, for customers and other travellers that no longer have access to commercial flights. The company says major areas of concern, given the loss or reduction in scheduled services, includes South America, South Africa and the United Kingdom. "We are dealing with unprecedented restrictions and extraordinary circumstances that are having a significant impact on our customers, people, suppliers and all other stakeholders," says Turner. "People are effectively unable to travel in the near-term, either domestically or internationally, and some are actually unable to be repatriated to their home countries, which is affecting thousands of people and is a problem that we're working to help solve." "Within this climate, our people have been working tirelessly to help our customers amend their plans, but unfortunately the vast proportion of the work that they would normally undertake has now been stopped." The Covid-19 outbreak has destroyed what would have otherwise been a record 2020 fiscal year for Flight Centre. The company generated $12.4 billion in first half TTV and broke monthly records in both January and February. Despite the downturn in business Flight Centre says it is undertaking steps to maintain a robust balance sheet and liquidity position. "The company is well progressed in pursuing relevant initiatives and will update the market in due course, at which time it also expects to end the voluntary Australian Securities Exchange suspension that is currently in place," says Flight Centre.

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Airlines Switch to Cargo-Only Flights

Airlines from all around the world are canceling flights as authorities seek to contain the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Some airlines are quickly repurposing their passenger planes to fly cargo-only to help weather the financial storm and ease a cargo crunch. Virgin Atlantic has flown its first-ever cargo-only chartered flight, loaded with pharmaceutical and medical products. Flight VS698 departed from London to New York on Sunday, March 21st with two pilots and one cabin crew member on board. Virgin Atlantic is able to fly cargo but not passengers due to the Covid-19 travel exemptions for pilots and cabin crew operating flights – it’s thanks to these that global air freight will remain functional in these incredibly trying times. Alitalia has organized, in coordination with the Italian Department of Civil Protection, the first of a series of cargo flights from China with the purpose of transporting medical equipment necessary for Italian hospitals to manage the Covid-19 emergency. For this first humanitarian flight, an Alitalia’s Boeing 777-300ER, the aircraft with the largest cargo capacity among the Airline’s fleet, will take off to Shanghai next Wednesday and return to Rome on Thursday 26 March with 160 cubic meters of medical supplies stowed, including approximately 3 million of protective face masks. American Airlines announced that it would be using currently grounded widebody passenger aircrafts to move cargo between the United States and Europe. The first cargo-only flight since 1984, Dallas- Frankfurt flight departed March, 20 2020. United Airlines is using some of its largest planes ( Boeing 777 and 787) as cargo planes to run 40 charter flights each week. Turkish Cargo, a division of Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, has started to operate cargo flights with Turkish Airlines’ passenger aircraft in addition to its flights with 25 high-capacity freighter. Until they’re able to welcome you back onboard, airlines will continue to fly cargo to destinations around the world.

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Hotels turn quarantine centres to stay afloat as tourism takes a hit

In Delhi, five hotels – Red Fox, IBIS, Aloft, Holiday Inn and Pride Plaza — are catering to guests with some key adjustments. Located close to the international airport, they have set aside entries and lifts for those being quarantined. The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic has battered the travel and hospitality industry, forcing hotels to shut down across the world, but some of them have adopted a model to stay in business – accommodate guests who need to quarantine themselves. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier this month announced that hotels were earmarked to be turned into quarantine facilities in the national capital. In the Capital, five hotels – Red Fox, IBIS, Aloft, Holiday Inn and Pride Plaza — are catering to guests with some key adjustments. Located close to the international airport, they have set aside entries and lifts for those being quarantined. The quarantined people are being kept on dedicated floors and only designated staffers are tending them. The Aerocity hotels also have round-the-clock medical teams and a separate waste management team in place From just three occupants on the first day, the three hotels now have more than 602 people using the quarantine facility, officials said on Wednesday. Those quarantined are using 492 rooms, records with the city’s revenue department showed. The government arranged 182 hotel rooms initially. “But, the occupancy really picked up on day three, and four. Gauging this, we arranged for a total of 525 rooms in Aerocity. Out of this, 385 are single rooms and 107 are double rooms. This is now the largest quarantine facility (paid or unpaid) in the country, beating the facility available in Jaisalmer, where about 500 people can be accommodated,” said Tanvi Garg, district magistrate (New Delhi). The three hotels, on orders from the Delhi government, are offering rooms for “Category B” or “moderate risk” (an asymptomatic passenger coming from a Covid-19 affected country and/or having other diseases and/or over 60 years of age) passengers at a flat rate of ₹3,100 (plus taxes) each per day. The package includes breakfast, lunch and dinner; two bottles of mineral water per day; tea and coffee and facilities such as WiFi and TV. Wednesday was 27-year-old Sudipto Chakraborty’s third day in quarantine at one of the hotels. “The arrangements are good. The food is delicious, except that it is sometimes delayed – like today. They keep it outside the room on the floor,” Chakraborty, who returned from Miami in the US on March 22, told HT over the phone. Food is being given only in disposal plates and clothes of the quarantined guests are being laundered separately. “But, there is no clarity if the cost also includes laundry service. My 14-day quarantine ends on April 5, but I might have to stay longer since there is no way I can go to my hometown under the lockdown,” he said. While every hotel has a medical team, comprising doctors from the Delhi government and the civic agencies, a clinical psychologist has also been deployed. The teams operate in three shifts to ensure 24-hour presence. Maharashtra chief minister Thackeray, too, has ordered hotel quarantines on terms similar to Delhi. “The government will make hotel rooms available at lower tariff if someone is willing to pay to get quarantined,” he said. Amid global fears of recession, the quarantining of people is acting as a much-needed source of revenue, with some hotels also offering luxury packages. A hotel in Switzerland is offering quarantine facilities, including a $500 Covid-19 test. “In the beginning of March, revenues dropped significantly,” Alexander Hübner, co-founder and chief executive of Le Bijou Hotel & Resort Management AG, told The Wall Street Journal. With the Covid-19 packages, however, the revenue slide has slowed. In the Swiss hotel, according to WSJ, in-room treatments can be purchased a la carte: Covid-19 testing is available for about $500, twice-daily nurse check-in for about $1,800, and the round-the-clock nurse care for about $4,800. DK Aggarwal, president, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “This extended assistance to the government by the hospitality sector will go long way in containing the spread of Covid-19.” Dr Shankar Narang, COO Paras Healthcare, said: “At this time of crisis, the country requires quarantine facilities in large numbers. Hotels can be ideal for that. Some hoteliers have already offered their facilities for this great cause.”

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249 British tourists stuck in Goa, India takes a special flight to UK

As many as 249 British tourists stranded in Goa left for Manchester in a special flight early on Wednesday even as arrangements are under way to fly stranded tourists of other nationalities too, a tour operator involved in the exercise said. Martin Joseph, who runs a charter company Freedom Holidays, arranged to ferry back 249 UK tourists along with TUI Airways, a Britain-based chartered travel company. He said that the central government made special exception for the exit of the stranded tourists. "The 249 British tourists included those who had come to Goa by scheduled flights. India's charter aviation policy mandates that only those who come by a chartered flight can return by a chartered flight. But in this case, the central government allowed all tourists to fly back," Joseph whose company handles charter tourist operations, told reporters. After the departure of the flight, the official Twitter handle of Goa's Dabolim International Airport said: "Matter of relief that guests shall be safe home amid COVID-19 crisis. AAI (Airport Authority of India) committed for service. Bon voyage". Joseph also said that efforts were being made to bail out tourists from other nationalities who are currently stranded in the coastal state. For now, foreigners whose visas are likely to expire have been allowed to extend their visas online and stay put in view of the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism in Goa has taken a hit on account of the global coronavirus outbreak. Last year, the state attracted more than seven million tourists, of which half a million were foreigners.

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Japan hotels lose out on Olympic bet as virus spreads

The Osaka Corona Hotel in western Japan has been eerily quiet and empty the past few weeks. “Our name is extremely regrettable,” Kohei Fujii, the hotel’s sales director, said with a sigh as he sat in an empty cafe in the lobby. A sign advertising discounted bottles of Corona beer stood at the front desk, but there haven’t been many customers at the hotel to take up the offer. Spring is usually the hotel’s busiest season, Fujii said, with Japanese companies renting out conference space and banquet rooms to hold training seminars and parties for their new hires. The hotel is near the bustling Shin-Osaka Station, a transport hub for western Japan. But with the coronavirus curtailing travel and disrupting businesses across Japan, room bookings are down to a third of what they were last year, Fujii said. The postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games, originally scheduled to take place this summer, is also likely to devastate smaller businesses in Japan reliant on tourism and disrupt the economy at large. Hotels with less unfortunate names than the Corona have not been spared either. Across Japan, hotels have seen a drastic fall in bookings as countries restrict travel to stem the spread of the virus and the Japanese government discourages people from unnecessary travel. A boom in hotel construction and overinvestment in the hospitality sector in recent years had already sparked concerns over the sustainability of the market, even before the spread of the coronavirus. “There’s been so much development in the last few years and we’ve seen an absurd number of rooms added to the market,” Fujii said, as he adjusted the surgical mask he was wearing. “I think there’s going to be a lot of places that won’t survive this.” After he came to power more than seven years ago, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rolled out an ambitious economic plan for the country with tourism as a key component. To that end, Abe’s government vowed to attract 40 million inbound visitors to Japan by 2020 and 60 million visitors by 2030. Under his leadership, Japan aggressively bid to host the Olympics, legalized casinos, and courted foreign investment in the hospitality sector. Last year, 31.9 million people visited Japan, spending 4.81 trillion yen ($43.65 billion). But the coronavirus, which has now spread to 195 countries and killed more than 16,000 worldwide, and the postponement of the Olympics announced Tuesday, will likely undermine those plans. Many countries have sealed their borders and put entire regions under lockdown. In February, the number of foreign visitors to Japan plunged nearly 60 percent from a year earlier and analysts are already predicting a catastrophic year for the tourism sector. “We had predicted 34 million foreign tourists to visit Japan in 2020, but that’s just not happening anymore,” said Takayuki Miyajima, a senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute. As of Tuesday, shares in real estate investment trusts (REITs) focusing on hotel assets like Invincible Investment Corp., Ichigo Hotel Reit Investment Corp. and Japan Hotel Reit Investment Corp. have shed some 60 percent this year, a deeper dive than a 31 percent drop in the broader REIT Index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. EMPTY ROOMS AND QUIET STREETS The pandemic has been particularly devastating for Japanese cities like Osaka that have grown more dependent on tourists, particularly those from China, to support local employment and midsize businesses. Investments in real estate in the Tokyo area dipped slightly last year, but continued to rise steadily in Osaka, according to a recent report by JLL, a global real estate broker. The real estate boom in Osaka had already added 21,000 new hotel rooms between 2015 to 2018. Now many of them, like those at the newly opened Hotel Vista Osaka Namba, are sitting empty. Hisao Ikawa opened the 121-room hotel last month on the same day Japan encouraged schools to shutter across the country. Sitting in front of a giant mural of a golden tiger in the lobby of his empty hotel, Ikawa said there was “no point” trying to woo overseas travelers right now. “We’re controlling prices and trying to get even a small number of domestic tourists and business travelers,” Ikawa said, a difficult task as Osaka has emerged as one of the clusters of coronavirus cases in Japan. The Japan City Hotel Association, which represents over 200 mid-range business hotels across the country, said it expects a spate of bankruptcies this year if the outbreak continues through the summer and the government doesn’t step in. “We’d built our hotels with the belief that the country was going to shift towards welcoming tourists. But now with the public refusing to go out, we’re the ones who are first to fall victim,” said Tsuguyoshi Shimizu, the president of the association. Japan’s tourism agency said in 2017 that consumption by international and domestic travelers supported 4.7 million jobs in the country and accounted for 5 percent of the economy. A recent report by a Japanese corporate research firm said 12 hospitality companies, including a cruise operator, had already gone bankrupt since the outbreak of the virus, with many of these closures focused in western Japan. Industry groups have sought additional government aid to weather the downturn. Japan is considering stimulus measures of at least $137 billion to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus, sources say, joining global efforts to cushion the blow from the pandemic. Japan’s Ryokan and Hotel Association, which oversees 2,500 small to midsize inns and hotels, said many small owners had poured most of what they’ve gained from the recent tourism boom into expensive renovations to upgrade their facilities ahead of the Olympics. Now, many of them are negotiating with their banks to forestall bankruptcies after a disastrous month of cancellations, said Shigeki Kitahara, who owns a ryokan a few streets away from Matsui in Kyoto, and heads the association.

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