Reinvention in the time of coronavirus

Chen isn't the only person to have made the switch from the catering industry to courier services. According to a survey published by Beijing-based food-delivery app Meituan, 75,000 new employees joined the company's army of couriers from Jan 20 to Feb 23.

The survey, which was published by Meituan on Feb 24, shows that 37.6 percent of these new couriers had previously worked in catering and other service sectors, 27.2 percent had worked in manufacturing and 13.8 percent owned small businesses.

The company also says that it will open up 200,000 new jobs, such as couriers, drivers and warehouse staff, in the coming months.

Over in the tourism sector, Huang Yu, the owner of a small travel agency in Beijing, has had to revamp his business model in the wake of the outbreak.

"Having worked in the tourism sector for 26 years, I knew this problem would be serious once I learned the news," Huang says. "I know because I experienced the SARS outbreak in 2003."

Huang's takings were more than halved when the Ministry of Culture and Tourism suspended all domestic tours on Jan 24 and stopped all outbound travel groups on Jan 27. Only 170 of his 500 clients had managed to complete their trips.

His last tour for the quarter was a trip to Iran which started on Jan 26. After returning to China on Feb 2, Huang spent more of his time handling cancellations and refunds.

"I initially expected business to rebound in May, but the situation has worsened. I think it's game over for outbound travel this year."

Having already built an extensive network of customers in his years as a travel agent, Huang took to selling various products, including agricultural products and tourist souvenirs, via WeChat in March. He also signed up for an online course to become an insurance agent with one of the country's leading insurance companies.

During his spare time, Huang produces new podcasts on Ximalaya where he has been sharing his knowledge about the culture and history of countries in the Middle East since 2018.

"This is my way of retaining customer loyalty," he says. "Sooner or later, this pandemic will pass. I just have to hold on to my customers until then."

While outbound travel has come to a standstill, domestic tourism is on the verge of a rebound, seeing how the outbreak has come under control in China. Ctrip, one of China's largest online travel agencies, says in a report published on March 5 that the domestic-travel segment will begin its recovery starting from the May Day holiday on May 1.

This prediction was based on data showing what people have been searching on the internet, says Sun Bo, the company's chief marketing officer. Sun notes that the five most-searched destinations were Sanya, Chengdu, Guizhou, Shanghai and Xi'an.