Just how bad is it in travel? Step into my office (a thread):
I started my website back in 2008. It was just me. I didn't have any overhead. I just needed to make enough to travel. Fast forward to 2020. I now have 4 full-time staff and our annual biz expenses are over $500k.
I started my website back in 2008. It was just me. I didn't have any overhead. I just needed to make enough to travel. Fast forward to 2020. I now have 4 full-time staff and our annual biz expenses are over $500k.
Over the last 30 days, we're down 12% in traffic compared to the 30 days prior. But that masks the complete fall in the last two weeks, where traffic is 50% off its highs, touching a number we haven't seen since 2017.
What does that mean for revenue?
What does that mean for revenue?
Our ad revenue daily average is 30% less than in Feb but, again, we have a huge drop this week and are 66% off its peak. The blue line is traffic, the green ad revenue. That's pretty bad. 
Hotel and hostel bookings are down 50%. But we only get paid when guests stay so all those previous bookings and revenue projections could go to shit if no one actually stays.
Guide revenue is down 21% compared to Feb.
Guide revenue is down 21% compared to Feb.
And most affiliate revenue has dropped to near zero. Flight bookings? Zero. Tours? only 2 in the last week. Last month, our combined CJ channels generated close to $6k. This month, to date, we're only at $700. That's a huge difference and ground that won't be made up.
Basically, everything I see is down and the drops get worse and worse the further we get into this month. I'm guessing I'm looking at a 50% loss of revenue this month. We had to cut back on ads, hiring freelancers, events, and a number of services to stem the bleeding.
I can last this out until May before I start freaking out. We're in a better position than most and I have a line of credit I can always tap. But.....
If these are my numbers, I can imagine that it's as equally bad for many other people, if not worse. Freelancers, start-ups, folks who rely on brand deals or pure Google traffic. If this goes into April or beyond, we're gonna see lots of travel companies close their doors.
I think this is going to be the biggest shake up in travel since 2008. I wouldn't be surprised if some bigger companies even go out of business and many of your fav writers exit the industry for other jobs. I hope this gets better soon.
