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Further 5 Things that Will Change Once COVID-19 Pandemic is Over

Further to my article on 8 April 2020 on the 5 things that will change forever once the COVID-19 Pandemic is over, there are further 5 things that will also change:
  1. Airfares for most travellers will be more expensive, simply because there will be fewer airlines still around.  As air travel has declined by 90% worldwide since March 2020, many of the smaller airlines will go bust.  With lesser supply, plus lesser demand from business class as most corporate people will get used to video and online meetings, fare for the economy class has to rise to make up for the difference.  We all know that business class seats are subsidising economy class, so with lesser class demand, economy class fares will shoot up
  2. Cost of maintenance for everything will go up: from simple cleaning to disinfecting, from social distancing to non-stop cleaning, from the common use of masks to high usage of water, expect to see at least an increase of 20% to 40% in your maintenance cost, including your water cost and electricity
  3. Governments will be weaker, but so will the oppositions, so there will be less chance of changes in governments or Presidents the world over.  People like Donald Trump will get re-elected easily, the Singapore PAP will get even higher votes than the previous election.  Governments that dealt successfully with the pandemic will be stronger
  4. Because many governments spent a lot of money and even borrow heavily to fight the pandemic, they either have to print more money (which will lead to inflation) or raise tax revenue to make up for the shortfall.  Whatever it is, something and someone has to pay.  It could be a cutback of non-essential spendings like defence, or downsizing of infrastructure building due to lack of money.  If your business is dependent on such government spending, you'll have less business
  5. Distance is No Longer a Concern.  Your Physical Location is NOT as important as your online presence. Because people now have got used to doing everything online, from education to entertainment, from consulting to designing, from legal to architecture, from playing to exercise, demand for prime commercial space will decline. This is good news for small companies and start-ups.
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