The online tourist reservation platform “Booking.com” is preparing to lay off a quarter of its workforce due to the crisis linked to the coronavirus pandemic.
The head of the Dutch group, Glenn Fogel, announced Tuesday that the platform, which currently employs 17,000 people including 5,500 at the headquarters in Amsterdam, will provide more details on the departments and countries affected by these layoffs in the coming weeks.
Active in 65 countries, the tourism reservations platform has been severely impacted by restrictions on international travel in the context of the health crisis.
After requesting help from the Dutch authorities to cover the salaries of its staff during the crisis, the company received public support of 61 million euros. Only the KLM airline and the NS railways have received more aid from the Dutch state.
According to a spokesperson for Booking, the layoffs would have been even greater without this public support.
As a reminder, against the backdrop of the crisis linked to the coronavirus, similar measures were taken by the accommodation reservation site “Airbnb” and the tourist advice platform “TripAdvisor” which also decided to lay off a quarter of their staff.
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