The U.S. travel industry feels the ruin caused by the coronavirus and travel bans will be seven times worse than 9/11. This as more tourism businesses close, and more flights are cancelled, faced with the travel restrictions. The picture shows the empty United Airlines check-in counters at Los Angeles International Airport. — Photo by (LAX) AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The losses to the U.S. tourism industry due to the coronavirus are snowballing-make that avalanching-by the day. To the point that the national non-profit organization representing all travel sectors estimates the economic fallout for the country will be seven times worse than 9/11.

The slump in travel will cause a $910 billion hit to the U.S. economy, says the U.S. Travel Association, "that's seven times the impact 9/11 had on the industry, according to the analysis." ... "The coronavirus crisis is hitting the travel economy hard, and it's also hitting fast," said the association's president and CEO Roger Dow in a statement.

Little more than a week ago, the organization, which represents roughly 150 travel-related businesses in the United States, was estimating 4.6 million travel jobs were at risk. That's when tourism industry officials descended on Washington "to seek a government bailout"-as national conventions magazine Meetings Today put it. In less than a week those projections rose to 6 million job losses: reality check, by the end of April.

Read the full article at Forbes