Following the news that Booking Holdings has applied for government relief in both the Netherlands and theUK;

Johanna Bonhill-Smith, Travel & Tourism Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“Bookings are down by 85% in April in comparison to last year for Booking Holdings, thus it is of no surprise that government relief has been requested as all travel players are struggling. 

“Fellow operators Expedia, TUI, Trip.com and Airbnb have all already sought additional credit to weather this exogenous storm. Considerable staff adjustments have also been made by competitors as a primary action to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.

“So far, Booking has frozen recruitment, slashed marketing budgets and CEO Glen Fogel has reduced his pay – alongside other high-ranking executives. There has been no official announcement of layoffs within the company – yet in a video conference with employees last Friday, Fogel was asked if this was possible to which the reply was ‘probably yes’.

“As a global operator, Booking Holdings is without doubt in a stronger position than many to battle through this warlike period. Despite this, the impacts of COVID-19 will continue to have a detrimental impact on company performance and strategy”.