COVID-19 Disrupts Leisure In US, But China Expects ‘Revenge Travel’ Boost

The coronavirus is impacting daily life throughout the world — and leisure activities are no exception.

New York City, in one case, is calling off festivals, concerts, and nonessential gatherings through May and potentially June while the city aims to reduce COVID-19 infection rates, CNBC reported. The news comes one day after Governor Andrew Cuomo put forward the extension of New York’s closure of nonessential companies to May 15. 

For New York City, the policy means that SummerStage in Central Park, which was set to start June 22, and the Brooklyn Half Marathon, which had been set for May 16, would be canceled. New COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York City fell from 386 on Tuesday to 329 on Wednesday.

Gaming

In the keystone state, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board data indicates that COVID-19 casino closures ordered in March caused a 51 percent fall in revenues for the month, The Daily Times reported.

Statewide revenue for all casinos was $153.4 million for March of this year, while it was $316.2 million for the same month in the prior year. Table games took in only $33.1 million, which marked a 59.9 percent fall from March 2019, as slot revenues fell 61 percent throughout the state from last March.

And COVID-19 will affect tourism in the U.S. but its full impact on the sector in Ohio is not yet known, The Galion Inquirer reported.

Air Travel

In China, airlines are ready for what has been called a round of so-called “revenge traveling” in the weeks to come amid rising reservations before the yearly Labour Day holiday, The South China Morning Post reported. The Labour Day holiday in China runs from May 1 up to May 5 at a minimum. 

Regional airlines such as Fuzhou Airlines, Guizhou Airlines, and China United Airlines, which is the low-cost unit of China Eastern Airlines, have brought on additional routes throughout the nation. United, for its part, has made an additional 25 routes, and eight of them leave from the capital’s new Daxing airport.

Separately, a published report noted that airlines are now “considering selling miles.” Airlines with the inclusion of Delta Airlines and United Airlines Holdings are reportedly in talks with their credit card partners with the aim of raising cash by selling miles to banks for less than might otherwise had been seen.

Movie Theaters 

The biggest theater operator around the world, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., noted on Friday (April 17) that its cash balance as of now was sufficient to get through a worldwide halt in operations up to a partial reopening in the summer. 

As of the end of March, AMC had $299.8 million in a cash balance. It shuttered its theaters in March to prevent proliferation of the novel coronavirus. The news comes as a day after the company said it planned to raise half a billion dollars in a new offering of debt.