Going virtual is becoming the order of the day with the pandemic revolutionizing business, and sparking a drastic change in consumer habits. Zeng Xinlan reports from Hong Kong.

Bilal Anjum saw his dream of taking to the skies in tatters, at least for the time being, as COVID-19 struck.

The 27-year-old was about to join Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways as a trainee pilot early last year when the pandemic hit the world with full force, grinding businesses, particularly, the aviation, travel and retail sectors, to an almost complete halt.

Companies have been forced to revolutionize to keep their heads above water by going "smart" or online amid the unrelenting outbreak.

Anjum has joined the information technology crowd, helping an online food market to launch its first brick-and-mortar store in Tseung Kwan O.

"The pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to businesses. I had already been jobless for almost a year, living on my savings and was about to join Cathay Pacific's pilot training program when everything was stopped on its tracks," he said.

Airlines around the world were running skeleton services due to suppressed demand as countries imposed severe travel curbs to keep the coronavirus out of their shores. Cathay Pacific was hard hit, having to scrap more than half of its flights in February last year and lay off some 6,000 employees in October. The carrier posted a record loss of HK$21.65 billion (US$2.79 billion) in 2020, according to its annual report.

The financial storm also battered the tourism, hospitality, and food-and-beverage industries as consumption slumped. Enterprises are keeping their fingers crossed that normalcy will soon return.

"Whether or not things will turn the corner is anybody's guess," said Pascal Martin, partner at global management consulting firm OC&C Strategy Consultants. "Holiday travel may soon recover but, for business travel, I think it's going to take much longer to return to the pre-pandemic levels because the way of doing business has changed dramatically."