Foreign tourists in HCM City. VNS Photo Thu Hằng

HCM CITY — More than 20,000 staff at hotels and tourist accommodations in HCM City were laid off or put on unpaid leave in the first quarter of the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released by the municipal Department on Monday (April 13).

Nearly 7,700 staff or 27 per cent of 28,000 workers at hotels and tourist accommodations in the city are working with reduction in working time, the report showed.

Hotels and tourist accommodations reported a year-on-year decline of 58 per cent in turnover in the first quarter of the year.

Many travel firms have put most employees on leave without pay until the pandemic ends as their operations remain suspended.

Travel firms have seen tourist numbers and revenues plummet by 50-60 per cent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, and some firms reported a 95-100 per cent drop in tourist numbers and revenues.

In the first quarter of the year, 90 per cent of more than 1,000 small and medium-sized travel firms suspended operations as the coronavirus shut down travel.

Large firms have operated with only a few employees on the job and have not operated trips.

In the first quarter of the year, the city saw a year-on-year fall of 42 per cent in overseas tourists and 26 per cent in turnover.  

Relief payments

The HCM City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs plans to spend VNĐ236 billion (US$10 million) on relief payments for 47,000 workers who have been laid off and teachers and childcare workers at private nurseries and pre-schools that were closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Initial statistics compiled by the department showed that as of Monday (April 13) nearly 47,000 workers in the city had been laid off as enterprises cut capacity or suspended operations, including 840 workers at industrial parks and export processing zones, 1,970 workers at HCM City High-tech Park, and 44,000 workers at enterprises operating in 24 districts.

A total of 31,500 teachers and childcare workers went on leave without pay due to closures of private nurseries and pre-schools.

Lê Minh Tấn, director of the department, said that local authorities would continue to update the list of unemployed workers to offer financial relief.

The unemployed will receive monthly relief payments of VNĐ1 million (US$42) per person for three months, starting in April, Tấn said.

Around 3.2 million workers are employed by 415,000 enterprises in the city. — VNS