A Simpler Life? - Society / Economy after the Virus

[garbon]

Okay but that's not generally true of large European cities.

I was in Barcelona, Naples, and Rome.

Okay? It doesn't mean that you aren't still wrong about those facts.

[merithyn]

Okay but that's not generally true of large European cities.

I was in Barcelona, Naples, and Rome.

Okay? It doesn't mean that you aren't still wrong about those facts.

I shared what my experiences were in those large European cities. What "facts" am I wrong about?

[Valmy]

Well you made it pretty clear my experience is wrong so why not yours? Just kidding.

Seriously though, I guess I just found it odd given the horrible and dehumanizing living conditions that Mono claims most of Hong Kong residents endure because of the extreme cost of living there that they could afford to eat out all the time. I mean I can't and I have great living conditions.

[Barrister]

Well you made it pretty clear my experience is wrong so why not yours? Just kidding.

Seriously though, I guess I just found it odd given the horrible and dehumanizing living conditions that Mono claims most of Hong Kong residents endure because of the extreme cost of living there that they could afford to eat out all the time. I mean I can't and I have great living conditions.

I don't know if the cost of living is necessarily that extreme in HK.  You've seen the apartments they live in - calling them shoeboxes would be an insult to shoeboxes.

As such restaurants can get away with paying lower wages (plus with lots of mainlanders willing to come and work for those low wages), and with wages being the #1 cost of a restaurant, they can then charge lower prices.

Or so goes my theory.

[mongers]

Quite a nice time lapse video of a Saturday night drive through central London out to the suburbs, regent street to the hamersmith flyover (a drive/journey I've done many times):

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-52084872/timelapse-the-streets-of-london-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic

[HisMajestyBOB]

I ate out a lot in Shanghai. My wife still cooked a lot because she enjoys cooking. Eating out was cheap but cooking was even cheaper, especially if you bought from the corner vegetable market instead of the supermarket.

[Tamas]

Of course you will find cheap food when there's next to no sanitation requirements, duh.

[mongers]

I was a bit confused, but now I got it straight in my mind, this is the haircuts and yeast thread? 

[Syt]

With travel being disrupted probably for many months to come, Austria will be quite hard hit. 1 in 14 jobs in Austria is in tourism. Vienna alone had 7.5 million tourist visitors in 2018, with each spending 2-3 nights on average. 73% of tourists come from abroad. Big chain hotels and restaurants will likely be fine, but a lot of small hotels and gastronomy business, esp. in the countryside, have very limited financial reserves to make it through a dry spell.

Tourism, travel, and leisure make up for 15% of the Austrian economy, with only Greece and Portugal a higher percentage.

[Josquius]

With travel being disrupted probably for many months to come, Austria will be quite hard hit. 1 in 14 jobs in Austria is in tourism. Vienna alone had 7.5 million tourist visitors in 2018, with each spending 2-3 nights on average. 73% of tourists come from abroad. Big chain hotels and restaurants will likely be fine, but a lot of small hotels and gastronomy business, esp. in the countryside, have very limited financial reserves to make it through a dry spell.

Tourism, travel, and leisure make up for 15% of the Austrian economy, with only Greece and Portugal a higher percentage.

If travel suffers out of corona I can see Austria holding better than most to be honest. Located where it is, very central in Europe, it could well make up somewhat for the loss of travellers from far afield with an uptick in people travelling over land from nearby countries.

[Syt]

You assume that borders open again soon for casual travel.

[Zanza]

Travel restrictions combined with economic malaise in other nations will make tourism suffer badly. But a lot of other industries will suffer just as much.

[Josquius]

You assume that borders open again soon for casual travel.

It'll happen before air travel is back to normal.

[Sheilbh]

Travel restrictions combined with economic malaise in other nations will make tourism suffer badly. But a lot of other industries will suffer just as much.

Yeah. They may also depend on tourism, but the shut down of all hospitality and cultural venues is a big chunk of the economy of any big city. That sector's going to be full of small businesses and employ lots of people, usually on quite low wages.

I think they will bounce back but if we're going to be in and out of lockdown for a prolonged period they'll all need help.

[mongers]

Travel restrictions combined with economic malaise in other nations will make tourism suffer badly. But a lot of other industries will suffer just as much.

Indeed, I think easily available international travel will take several years to come back.