A man sits next to empty seats with restrictions on social detachment due to covid-19 in a departure area at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam on Nov. 18, 2021 – AFP
The world tourism sector should return to register losses of 2 trillion dollars this year, due to restrictions related to the covid-19 pandemic, announced this Monday (Sunday, 28, in Brasília) the World Tourism Organization (WTO), which considers the recovery “slow” and “fragile”.
Meanwhile, Europe is suffering from a particularly virulent new wave of covid-19, and the detection of a new variant, called omicron, in South Africa has prompted several countries to suspend flights originating in southern Africa.
The latest events show that “the situation is totally unpredictable” and that the tourism sector is not safe from risks that can cause “enormous economic damage”, acknowledged to AFP the secretary general of the WTO, Zurab Pololikashvili.
According to the UN agency, which will hold its general assembly in Madrid between Tuesday and Friday, international tourist arrivals are expected to remain “70 to 75% lower” this year compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The tourism sector, one of the hardest hit by the health emergency, is expected to record once again gigantic losses in 2021, estimated at around 2 trillion dollars. A number almost identical to 2020.
“The crisis in the tourism sector is historic, but tourism has the possibility of recovering quickly”, highlighted Pololikashvili, showing hope that “2022 will be a much better year than 2021”.
– “Uneven” results –
According to indicators released by the WTO, international tourist arrivals actually experienced a recovery “during the summer season in the northern hemisphere”, suggesting an improvement after a “weak” first half, thanks to “strong advances in vaccination”.
But “results remain uneven in different regions of the world”, says the WTO communiqué, which attributes this heterogeneous situation “to differences in mobility restrictions, vaccination rates and traveler confidence”.
According to the organization, 46 countries remain completely closed to tourists, which is equivalent to one in five destinations, and 55 are partially closed. On the other hand, four nations have already lifted all restrictions: Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Due to persistent uncertainties about the evolution of the pandemic, the WTO does not provide estimates on the number of tourists who will be able to travel abroad in 2022, but predicts a “slow” and “fragile” recovery.
“Uneven vaccination rates and new strains of covid-19”, such as omicron, “may affect recovery”, warns the organization, which also fears the effects of the “recent increase in oil prices” on travel.
Faced with these obstacles, only “a coordinated response between countries” will allow “restoring consumer confidence”, concludes the WTO, which intends to debate the issue at its general assembly in Madrid.
The meeting, in which the 159 member states will participate, was supposed to take place in Morocco, but the country withdrew from hosting it due to a resurgence of covid-19.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/world-tourism-losses-in-2021-are-expected-to-reach-us-2-trillion-istoe-money/
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