Booking Holding Inc., the U.S.-based company that owns travel website Booking.com, intends to reduce its 17,000 work force by 25% as a result of business lost during the coronavirus pandemic, it said on Tuesday.

A company spokeswoman confirmed a report in Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad that had cited an internal video sent to staff by chief executive Glenn Fogel.

In an e-mail response to questions, Booking said it was trying to save as many jobs as possible.

"Unfortunately, as a result of the crisis, we, like so many other travel companies, need to take the extremely difficult step to reduce our global workforce, with up to 25% of the global employee base intended to be impacted."

The Nasdaq-listed company (BKNG) is based in Norwalk, Connecticut, and has a major office in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where it employs 5,500.