Data: Consumers Reacted More Swiftly, Strongly to COVID-19 versus Norovirus on Cruise Lines
A March 26 report from 1010Data titled: “COVID-19 Retail Impact Sector: Spending in the face of a pandemic,” reveals the effect COVID-19 has had on the travel industry beginning in February 2020. Cruise lines, in particular, were the first to suffer. The quarantining of the Diamond Princess cruise ship on February 4th was likely the first time many Americans had heard of COVID-19 and within a week of this news breaking nationally, sales were down more than 10% year-over-year. Data shows that sales briefly stabilized in mid-February before rapidly falling throughout March.
“By the time President Trump addressed the nation on March 11, sales were down more than 90% year-over-year,” the report states.
1010Data, however, says that the response to COVID-19 has been worse for the cruise industry than either the norovirus outbreak in January 2014 on the Explorer of the Sea or the norovirus outbreak in January 2019 on the Oasis of the Seas.
“While both saw a brief slowdown in sales, they were nothing like today’s fallout,” it adds.
