South Korean travel agencies asked for government relief after its annual sales plummetted over 80 percent last year.
According to a task force formed to tackle the crisis, the travel agencies can no longer shoulder fixed costs because of mounting debts, even after driving employees out of their workplaces.
The task force added that the travel agencies are on "the brink of collapse" and need relief funds and compensation equivalent to those to allocated to small businesses ordered to close or cut down operations.
Among their requests is for the government to relax its 14-day self-quarantine order for those arriving from abroad.
Sales by members of the Korea Association of Travel Agents decreased 83.7 percent to 2.06 trillion won in 2020 from the previous year due to the pandemic's effect on the tourism industry.
Around 48,000 people in the travel industry have either lost their jobs or forced to take leaves of absence, according to a survey on 17,664 travel agents nationwide between September and October.


OpenAI Explores Massive Funding Round at $750 Billion Valuation
iRobot Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Amid Rising Competition and Tariff Pressures
Oracle Stock Slides After Blue Owl Exit Report, Company Says Michigan Data Center Talks Remain on Track
TikTok U.S. Deal Advances as ByteDance Signs Binding Joint Venture Agreement
Japan Exports to U.S. Rebound in November as Tariff Impact Eases, Boosting BOJ Rate Hike Expectations
Jared Isaacman Confirmed as NASA Administrator, Becomes 15th Leader of U.S. Space Agency
Asian Markets Rebound as Tech Rally Lifts Wall Street, Investors Brace for BOJ Rate Hike
BoE Set to Cut Rates as UK Inflation Slows, but Further Easing Likely Limited
Trello Outage Disrupts Users as Access Issues Hit Atlassian’s Work Management Platform
Precious Metals Rally as Silver and Platinum Outperform on Rate Cut Bets
Silver Prices Hit Record High as Safe-Haven Demand Surges Amid U.S. Economic Uncertainty
Asian Fund Managers Turn More Optimistic on Growth but Curb Equity Return Expectations: BofA Survey
Chinese Robotaxi Stocks Rally as Tesla Boosts Autonomous Driving Optimism
SUPERFORTUNE Launches AI-Powered Mobile App, Expanding Beyond Web3 Into $392 Billion Metaphysics Market
SpaceX Insider Share Sale Values Company Near $800 Billion Amid IPO Speculation
Austan Goolsbee Signals Potential for More Fed Rate Cuts as Inflation Shows Improvement
Asian Stocks Slide as AI Spending Fears and Global Central Bank Decisions Weigh on Markets 



