KUWAIT CITY, Dec 23: The travel and tourism offices were happy with the return of life but the decision to close the land, sea and air borders came as a thunderbolt to them, reports Al-Nahar daily.

They explained that the decision to close the borders has deepened the wounds of the offices, as 70 percent of them were close to bankruptcy due to the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The offices had reserved accommodations for those wishing to travel to spend the New Year holidays in many countries around the world, but all those reservations have been canceled, and the offices have to pay the full costs.

The offices estimated the losses that are expected to incur to be nearly KD 5 million, as nearly 25,000 tickets were canceled during the week.

They stressed that the closure came as a severe blow especially with the Christmas and New Year holidays, and this means a significant increase in the bill of losses incurred by the sector during the year 2020.

The offices said, "We worked on acquiring bookings and cancellations for a period of two whole weeks without charge... even our expenses were not paid by customers".

Some of them are expecting an extension of the lockdown, and others said the matter is based on knowledge of the unseen and is mainly based on the decisions of the health authorities.