(Yicai Global) Feb. 10 -- China's tourism, catering and movie sectors have been almost stagnant because of the ongoing novel coronavirus epidemic. Businesses are wondering how to survive this sorry situation, with corporate training and moves to shift business online among a number of self-preservation measures being taken.

Lu Qun, who runs two brick-and-mortar branches of China's largest online travel agency Ctrip in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province at the epicenter of the outbreak, has spent three days refunding millions of bookings along with his colleagues. Almost all of Ctrip's nearly 8,000 stores are suffering the same pain.

"For us, the epidemic is a severe blow," Lu said. "No income amounts to unemployment."

Besides a tentative exemption from store management fees and extending the timeframe for meeting sales targets, Shanghai-based Ctrip has brought in a series of courses, including on product knowledge, sales skills, data analysis and customer relationship management, for the stores' employees, Lu said.

"I drew up a schedule of classes and applied for funds for five colleagues to study communication skills and operational ideas, which will help a lot in resuming business," Lu said.

"Online training is a good way forward at present," Wu Zhixiang, founder and president of Tongcheng-Elong Holdings, another player in China's tourism arena, told Yicai Global. Business was hit hard, with core business volume coming off 80 percent. With more than 10,000 staff, the group faces a big challenge, Wu added.

He also revealed that the Nanjing-based company's business school is offering online classes on how entrepreneurs can survive the crisis. Nearly 100,000 entrepreneurs have attended the live lectures in a week. The firm's investment fund, Tongcheng Capital, will also form a new CNY50 million (USD7.16 million) angel fund to help entrepreneurs.

Loans, Insurance Lifelines

A hotel's daily costs amount to as much as several hundreds of thousands of yuan, Hong Qinghua, founder of online tourism platform Lvmama.com, told Yicai Global. Many have closed or have less than a 4 percent occupancy rate now.

As a result, some companies are turning to financial measures to save themselves. Huazhu Hotels Group introduced steps, including delaying credit repayment to May and offering up to CNY500,000 (USD71,560.5) low-interest loans to a single hotel, apart from exempting or cutting the franchise fee.

Similar measures have been announced by BTG Homeinns Hotels Group, a major hotel chain, which is providing members with operation disruption insurance.

Meanwhile, Beijing Xibei Catering Management, which owns nearly 400 eateries across China, told Yicai Global that it has an annual turnover of nearly CNY6 billion (USD85.9 million. But due to the virus outbreak, it is expected to lose between CNY700 million (USD100.2 million) and CNY800 million in revenue over the month around the Chinese New Year holiday. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank's Beijing branch has extended CNY120 million in credit as part of a comprehensive credit and financial services solution.

Online Shift

The new coronavirus epidemic has also been a sudden shock to businesses in sectors such as sports training, education, sports events and sports goods production.

Lefit, an internet sports and fitness platform with more than 450 fitness centers in China, closed all of them after the outbreak. It then launched online classes to provide simple and effective home exercise tutorials or fitness quizzes and encouraged coaches to spread the material. Its 16,000 videos uploaded to TikTok and Kuaishou had been played 230 million times as of the noon of Feb. 7.

Beijing Dongying Sports Technology, which focuses on sports training for children and teenagers, introduced online sports classes on WeChat's mini app and its website. These classes include physical agility and ball courses.

The film, television and culture sector has also been hit. In the face of suspended team work, postponed projects and a lack of movie releases amid the epidemic, film and TV studios face no small test. But they are trying to stay afloat via active negotiation, working online and looking for themes that meet current social needs.

Several players said they were considering making moving stories about the epidemic to make works of 'positive energy' as well as virus-themed science fiction programs. Zhang Hui, general manager at Huanrui Century Dongyang TV and Film Media's research and development center for creativity, said earlier that it was a time for literary and artistic creators to look at society, and that it was easier for people to express their inner world and to record and express it through artistic means.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Chen Juan, Peter Thomas