According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the global travel and tourism industry suffered a loss of 62 million jobs and $4.5 trillion in GDP in 2020 due to the pandemic. The pandemic has forced travel agencies to rethink their business models and strategies – with many having to shut down or lay off employees, and those that survived faced a highly uncertain and competitive market.

The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the global travel and tourism sector and its repercussions are still being felt. According to a Statista report, over 50 million travel jobs have been lost globally during the span of the pandemic. Now as we see restrictions being lifted gradually since mid 2022, demand surge has in turn created severe travel chaos in various countries – as seen in major cities such as London and the United States.

The surge of the COVID-19 outbreak for the past 2 years has led to a continued global rise in inflation, staffing shortages and widespread disruption of the global economy. Yet, the outsourcing industry has so far proved to be resilient in times of turmoil. According to a Statista report, the BPO industry is projected to reach US$330 billion by the end of year. This includes a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.69%, leading to a market volume of US$450 billion by 2027.

When you are thinking about outsourcing your business, you might have heard the term onshore and offshore while doing your research. You may wonder, what’s the difference between the two and how will this affect your company?

Over the last two decades, outsourcing has revolutionised the way enterprises approach a range of functions from document scanning, and human resources to IT services. Today, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is utilised not only as a simple cost-cutting mechanism but also as a strategic initiative to improve quality of business processes whilst optimising the bottom line of a company.

The future of the outsourcing industry remains bright after wrapping up 2021. While the last year was another challenging year given the ongoing concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, it also saw areas of tremendous growth, opportunities for exploring new operating models, and lots of encouraging adaptation. Despite the need to balance safety and clients needs, there is still plenty of room for providers to thrive in.