As countries scramble to bring about a return to relative normalcy with mass COVID-19 vaccination, the outlook for the tourism sector remains uncertain.
According to the Madrid-based World Tourism Organization, most experts do not see a return to pre-pandemic levels of tourism activity before 2023.
Open-air and nature-based tourism will see growing demand when tourism restarts, the United Nations body said, adding that domestic tourism is also expected to be more popular.
Already, domestic tourism is helping to soften the blow as governments – some more successful than others — have taken immediate action to restore and re-activate the sector while protecting jobs and businesses.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a more resilient tourism economy post-COVID must include preparing plans for a sustainable recovery, promoting a digital transition and moving to a greener tourism system.
“Encouraging news on vaccines has boosted hopes for recovery but challenges remain, with the sector expected to remain in survival mode until well into 2021,” OECD said.
“The crisis is an opportunity to rethink tourism for the future. Tourism is at a crossroads and the measures put in place today will shape the tourism of tomorrow. Governments need to consider the longer-term implications of the crisis, while capitalizing on digitalization, supporting the low carbon transition, and promoting the structural transformation needed to build a stronger, more sustainable and resilient tourism economy.”
The coronavirus crisis cost the global tourism sector $1.3 trillion in lost revenue in 2020 as the number of people travelling plunged, with the UN calling it “the worst year in tourism history.”
Revenue lost last year amounted to “more than 11 times the loss recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis,” the World Tourism Organization said, warning that between 100 million and 120 million direct tourism jobs were at risk.
International tourist arrivals fell by one billion, or 74 percent, in 2020 with Asia, the first region to feel the impact of COVID-19, seeing the steepest decline, it added.
“While much has been made in making safe international travel a possibility, we are aware that the crisis is far from over,” WTO head Zurab Pololikashvili said.
The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is expected to “slowly normalize travel” this year but many countries are reintroducing travel restrictions such as quarantines, mandatory testing and border closures “due to the evolving nature of the pandemic,” the UN body said.
While international tourism has taken a hit from the outbreak of diseases in the past, the coronavirus is unprecedented in its geographical spread.
By comparison, international tourism arrivals fell by just 0.4 percent in 2003 after the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which killed 774 people worldwide.
The coronavirus has killed over 2 million people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.
The tourism industry accounts for about 10 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and jobs. With AFP