A report on states hardest hit by the pandemic has Texas middle or bottom of the pack in most categories, but surprising the Lone Star State leads the nation in "default probability on loans of businesses in the travel and tourism industry."
WalletHub’s Jill Gonzalez says Texas travel and tourism businesses weren't in good shape before the virus.
"A lot of these businesses were already around 30 to 60 days behind on bills. Defaulting is what occurs, essentially, as the next step there. So, a lot of these businesses were already struggling and that means their default probability was already higher."
Gonzalez says the good news is Texas doesn't have all its eggs in one basket.
"Just looking at travel and tourism here; Texas is home to a lot of businesses, a lot of big corporations outside of travel and tourism so, that definitely is a saving grace right now."
In WalletHub’s survey, Texas ranks better than most of the states in every category except default probability for tourism businesses.