Skip to main content

Beijing services sector set for recovery


By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

After Beijing reported no new COVID-19 cases for three consecutive days, the services sector from retail vendors, travel agents, delivery drivers to restaurant owners, were awaiting a much-anticipated recovery in the coming months. 

"Once the coronavirus is fully contained in Beijing and banquets are allowed, liquor sales will boom," Song Zongheng, who owns Beijing Yongsheng Cigarette and Liquor Co, was quoted as saying as he remained positive about the city's service sector revival. 

However, restaurants were more cautious about a quick recovery as the latest outbreak of COVID-19 started in the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market, infecting vendors and some restaurant workers who purchased food supplies there. 

The owner of a Sichuan restaurant in Beijing's Chaoyang district said that their customers had only recovered to half of its capacity and the recent outbreak had brought another blow to the city's catering industry. 

While dining-in services were hurt, many people who were laid off found work with couriers and food delivery companies thanks to the city's broad 4G and 5G coverage, which enabled mobile delivering platforms. 

"After the epidemic, delivery orders are surging now,” a deliveryman surnamed Zhang who works for Meituan-Dianping, an online food delivery platform, remarked. Some people in the tourism sector are struggling to pay their office rent while others refuse to close their business. 

Jia Jianqiang, CEO of 6renyou, an online tourism agency in Beijing, informed that the company had shifted its core business from arranging overseas trips to domestic service. 

Online travel agency Trip.com shared that flight reservations by Beijing residents for July and August, summer vacationing time for students, were the highest among cities in China. 

The Chinese guesthouse booking platform Tujia said that the bookings from Beijing surged four times after the capital city as the residents leaving the city no longer required a proof of negative COVID-19 test result. It estimated that bookings will recover up to 70 percent in the summer vacation. 

In 2019, the service sector had contributed 87.8 percent to Beijing's economic growth, having played a pivotal role.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ambassador explains Chinese role in curbing COVID-19

By Masood Sattar Khan  (Pakistan News & Features Services) The Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing, attended the preparation and response plan of the new crown epidemic on April 24. According to the details shared by the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, Ambassador Yao Jing was invited to attend the Pakistan New Crown Outbreak Preparation and Response Plan (PPRP) on video conference. The meeting, organized by the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was also attended by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister of Economic Affairs, Khasro Bakhtiar, Prime Minister’s Health Adviser Dr Zafar Mirza, Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, General Muhammad Afzal, WHO Director-General, Tan Desai besides the representatives of World Bank, United Nations, UNICEF, UNHCR, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and envoys from more than 20 countries.  Besides China, envoys from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, the European Unio...
Post a Comment
Read more

Corona field facility at Karachi Expo Centre may admit patients now

By Mukhtar Alam (Pakistan News & Features Services) The 1,200-bed field isolation centre at the Karachi Expo Centre, on April 6, will open its doors for new COVID-19 infected patients of Karachi and other parts of Sindh who will be referred to it by designated tertiary care hospitals, as the diseases infected another 51 people in six districts of Sindh on April 5.  A source in the provincial health department informed PNFS that authorities have decided not to overburden the designated tertiary care health facilities in terms of corona cases further.  The hospitals have now been asked to admit only new severely ill COVID-19 patients or those seeking intensive cares, while the rest will present at the newly established Expo Centre isolation facility, where the Sindh health department has deployed its doctors, paramedics and other human resources, the source added. Through a letter of the health department, all the district health officers of Karachi division have been asked ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Khumar Farooqui passes away

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) Noted poet and writer, Masroor Alam Farooqui, famously known as Khumar Farooqui, passed away in Karachi after a brief illness. He was 71. He has left behind a widow, two sons and two daughters besides grandsons and granddaughters to mourn his death. Khumar Farooqui was born at Agra, British India, in 1942. Upon migration to Pakistan, he did his MA and LL.B from Rawalpindi. He joined government service at the Federal Bureau of Statistics from where he retired as the Chief Statistical Officer. A born poet, Khumar Farooqui joined the Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology (SSUET), Karachi, as a consultant and worked in its Literary and Cultural Forum headed by Late Brig (Rtd) Qamarussalam after whose death he became the convener of the forum. He used to attend mushairas at national and international levels. His poetry ...
Post a Comment
Read more