Coronavirus is a viral disease that emerged around September 2019 in the city of Wuhan in China. The virus started as an epidemic, infecting thousands and killing hundreds before growing into a pandemic that has spread across the globe. Since it was declared a pandemic by the WHO, the virus has infected more than 450,000 worldwide, killing thousands, too. The pandemic has affected a lot of things, from commerce to science to humanities. In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, and the condition which has been named COVID-19, the WHO has announced that people should stay at home.Almost every country is enforcing the "stay at home" order, and in some countries where there are high numbers of cases, entire cities are on lockdown. The "stay at home" order has its bearing on transport systems, which in turn affects travel agencies. Travel restrictions across most countries mean that only a few people will be able to travel. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reduced the cost of flights and traveling across all levels because fewer people are moving about. The effect of the pandemic on travel agencies is enormous, and some of the problems include:

• Travel agencies will find it hard to find customers. 

People have been ordered to stay at home, and since flights/travels are getting canceled and airports closed, nobody will want to book flights or seek the services of travel agencies. Also, there would be no vacations to book because a lot of these vacation destinations have confirmed cases of COVID-19

• The economic effects of the spread of the virus have changed people's priorities. 

With the need to stock up for the lockdown, people will divert the funds saved for a vacation to feeding and survival. With no cure in sight for the virus, the lockdown is indefinite, and that means people will need all the money they have. 

• Vacation destinations are closed across the country to ensure that there are no gatherings of people.

Since the virus is easily transmitted through body contact, the need to control the spread will force governments to shut down bars, clubs, beaches, parties, and any other form of gathering. [Editor’s note: This has already happened in several cities and states in the U.S. and other countries.]

Empty ocean beach; image by Beto Galetto, via Unsplash.com.

In the little time that the virus has been declared a pandemic, the death toll worldwide has reached over 20,000. This shows that the pandemic is not something to be taken lightly. All travel agencies are expected to comply with the laws of their respective governments, which means that they will most likely be asked to shut down their services indefinitely, pending the time it will be safe to resume operations. The Coronavirus pandemic, the first pandemic since HIV peaked in 2012, has crippled the economy of many countries across the globe as scientists and epidemiologists struggle to find an effective cure. As long as the virus remains a pandemic and its spread is not totally controlled, travel agencies will have to continue counting their losses on a large scale.