Hospitality in the News - 5 March 2020

Your latest instalment of articles and opinions from across the Hospitality sector.

TW: thinkingdifferently

Will the restrictions on travel imposed by the Coronavirus outbreak change behaviours going forward?

As countries lock down cities and close borders, companies have been forced to use video conferencing and webinars to stay connected. The share price of Zoom (a US video comms business) has risen around 70% from the start of the year at the time of writing and is hurriedly expanding into new territories. Will this behaviour stop when things go back to normal? Or will the Law of Unintended Consequences apply and people realise that it’s a lot easier (and time efficient) to attend a conference by webinar than to jump on a plane. Will more people realise that working remotely is effective and do more? When you add to the equation the "flight shaming" that was so topical just a few weeks ago, and the ever-present focus on sustainability, video conferencing and webinars are one very simple, and cheap, way to reduce your carbon footprint. In fact, there has already been a massive drop in carbon emissions, with China emitting 25% less carbon in February than it did over the same period in 2019 though this is primarily due to a major decline in manufacturing rather than less travel. It is of course possible that the response to coronavirus will not cause long term change. Humans have a built-in desire to be in community, so perhaps all the conferences, exhibitions and travel that have been cancelled in recent days will resume. But perhaps also eyes are opened to new ways of doing things which bring a change in behaviour and bad news for the conference and meetings business.