Japan's JTB to lay off 6,500 as coronavirus batters travel
20/11/2020 10:01
TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Japanese travel agency JTB Corp
will cut its workforce by 6,500 members to 22,500, a company
official said on Friday, in the latest sign of the dire impact
of the novel coronavirus on the travel industry.
JTB will also close 115 of its outlets, or 25% of the total
it had in the 2019 financial year, by the next fiscal year, and
freeze the hiring of new graduates, the official said.
The travel agency will also need to slash personnel costs by
30% in terms of the annual incomes of all the employees in the
next financial year, said the official, who declined to be
identified.
Japan's travel agencies have been among the firms hardest
hit by the pandemic, which has threatened to trigger a wave of
bankruptcies and lay-offs.
Although Japan has avoided the kind of rapid spread of the
coronavirus seen in Europe and the United States, a recent
resurgence of infections has raised alarm among policymakers
trying to contain the pandemic while keeping the economy afloat.
New coronavirus cases hit 2,027 in Japan on Friday, topping
the 2,000 mark for the third straight day, domestic media
reported, with the number of new infections in Tokyo at 522.
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto
Editing by Robert Birsel)
((tetsushi.kajimoto@thomsonreuters.com;))