Pandemic to cost global tourism R32 trillion in 2021: UN

Source: Fin24, 30/11/2021

While international tourism has taken a hit from the outbreak of
disease in the past, the coronavirus is unprecedented in its
geographical spread.
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• The coronavirus pandemic will cost the global tourism sector
R32.3 trillion in lost revenue in 2021.
• International tourist arrivals will this year remain 70-75%
below the 1.5 billion arrivals recorded in 2019 before the pandemic
hit.
• A total of 46 destinations - 21 percent of all destinations
worldwide - currently have their borders completely closed to
tourists.
The coronavirus pandemic will cost the global tourism sector $2.0
trillion (~R32.3 trillion) in lost revenue in 2021, the UN`s tourism
body said Monday, calling the sector`s recovery `fragile` and `slow`.
The forecast from the Madrid-based World Tourism Organization comes as
Europe is grappling with a surge in infections and as a new heavily
mutated Covid-19 variant, dubbed Omicron, spreads across the globe.
International tourist arrivals will this year remain 70-75 percent
below the 1.5 billion arrivals recorded in 2019 before the pandemic
hit, a similar decline as in 2020, according to the body.
The global tourism sector already lost $2.0 trillion in revenues last
year due to the pandemic, according to the UNWTO, making it one of
sectors hit hardest by the health crisis.
While t he UN body charged with promoting tourism does not have an
estimate for how the sector w ill perform next year, its medium-term
outlook is not encouraging.
`Despite the recent improvements, uneven vaccination rates around the
world and new Covid-19 strains` such as the Delta variant and Omicron
`could impact the already slow and fragile recovery,` it said in a
statement.
The introduction of fresh virus restrictions and lockdowns in several
nations in recent weeks shows how `it`s a very unpredictable
situation,` UNWTO head Zurab Pololikashvili told AFP.
`It`s a historical crisis in the tourism industry but again tourism
has the power to recover quite fast,` he added ahead of the start of
the WTO`s annual general assembly in Madrid on Tuesday.
`I really hope that 2022 will be much better than 2021.`
`Confused`
While international tourism has taken a hit from the outbreak of
disease in the past, the coronavirus is unprecedented in its
geographical spread.
In addition to virus-related travel restrictions, the sector is also
grappling with the economic strain caused by the pandemic, the spike
in oils prices and the disruption of supply chains, the UNWTO said.
Pololikashvili urged nations to harmonise their virus protocols and
restrictions because tourists `are confused and they don`t know how to
travel`.
International tourist arrivals `rebounded` during the summer season in
the Northern Hemisphere thanks to increased travel confidence, rapid
vaccination and the easing of entry restrictions in many nations, the
UNWTO said.
`Despite the improvement in the third quarter, the pace of recovery
remains uneven across world regions due to varying degrees of mobility
restrictions, vaccination rates and traveller confidence,` it added.
Arrivals in some islands in the Caribbean and South Asia, and well as
some destinations in southern Europe, came close to, or sometimes
exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter.
Other countries however hardly saw any tourists at all, particularly
in Asia and the Pacific, where arrivals were down 95 percent compared
to 2019 as many destinations remained closed to non-essential travel.
Closed borders
A total of 46 destinations - 21 percent of all destinations worldwide
- currently have their borders completely closed to tourists,
according to the UNWTO.
A further 55 have their borders partially closed to foreign visitors,
while just four nations have lifted all virus-related restrictions --
Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
The future of the travel sector will be in focus at the WTO annual
general assembly, which will run until Friday.
The event - which brings together representatives from 159 members
states of the UN body - was original scheduled to be held in
Marrakesh.
But Morocco in late October decided not to host the event due to the
rise in Covid-19 cases in many countries.
Before the pandemic, the tourism sector accounted for about 10 percent
of the world`s gross domestic product and jobs.
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