Booking.com To Lay Off 25% of Its Staff

Booking Holdings Inc. is the latest online travel giant to cut thousands of jobs after the coronavirus pandemic hit the industry. As much as 25% of employees at Booking.com, the company’s largest venture, will be laid off, the company said in a statement Tuesday. That’s about 4,000 employees. The lay-off will be made worldwide.

The CEO added that the pandemic had hit Booking’s business hard and the travel industry as a whole remained under “significant pressure.”

“In my heart, for a long time, I hoped that this would not happen. However, nothing can mitigate the impact this crisis has had, and will continue to have, on both the travel industry and our business.”

The continued spread of Covid-19 has dramatically curtailed tourism while stopping most business travels in favor of video conferencing and telecommuting.

Earlier this year, Airbnb Inc. and TripAdvisor Inc. cut a quarter of their employees, and last week Expedia Group Inc. reported an 82% drop in revenues in the second quarter.

Booking.com received government aid in Europe earlier this year. When the company applied, it was criticized by politicians and the media. Without such support, the company believes there would be more job cuts, the spokesman said.

“While we have worked hard to keep as many jobs as possible, we believe we need to restructure our organization to meet our future travel expectations,” she added.