BEIJING: China’s tighter social restrictions to fight its latest COVID-19 outbreak – now in its fourth week and involving more than a dozen cities – are hitting the services sector, especially travel and hospitality, in the world’s second-largest economy. …

BEIJING: China’s tighter social restrictions to fight its latest COVID-19 outbreak – now in its fourth week and involving more than a dozen cities – are hitting the services sector, especially travel and hospitality, in the world’s second-largest economy.
China has refrained from full lockdowns of major cities such as those seen during the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hubei province, to avoid totally paralysing the economy.
“The current wave has led to the re-imposition of much tighter social distancing measures, which would significantly hurt the transport, tourism and other service sectors,” Citi analysts wrote in a note on Wednesday (Aug 11).
“We now expect full recovery of the service sector to be further delayed to the fourth quarter.”
Ding, who operates a 15-room lodge in the western highlands of Sichuan province, said she had expected an occupancy rate of at least 80 per cent on weekdays between late July and early August.
But with eight local infections detected in Sichuan, the actual occupancy rate has been 20 per cent to 30 per cent, she told Reuters.
When the summer travel season kicked off in July, she received 300,000 yuan of bookings that month.
“Now, in August, 100,000 yuan would be a struggle,” Ding said.