Tourism hit hard by coronavirus

FORECAST: ARRIVALS COULD PLUNGE BY 80% – UN BODY

‘The world is facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis.’

The number of international tourist arrivals could plunge by 60 to 80% in 2020 owing to the coronavirus, the United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation (WTO) said yesterday, revising its previous forecast sharply lower.

Widespread travel restrictions and the closure of airports and national borders to curb the spread of the virus had plunged international tourism into its worst crisis since records began in 1950, the UN body said in a statement.

Tourist arrivals fell by 22% in the first three months of the year, and by 57% in March alone, with Asia and Europe suffering the biggest declines, according to the Madrid-based organisation.

“The world is facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Tourism has been hit hard, with millions of jobs at risk in one of the most labour-intensive sectors of the economy,” the body’s secretary-general, Zurab Pololikashvili, said.

Airlines have suffered the most since the outbreak began with most flights grounded, but hotel groups, cruise operators and tour operators are also reeling.

The WTO said the full extent of the fall in international tourism would depend on how quickly international borders open again.

Under a best-case scenario, with travel restrictions starting to ease in early July, international tourist arrivals could fall by just 58%.

If borders and travel restrictions are only lifted in early December, the fall would be more on the order of 78%.

If the restrictions are lifted in early September the UN body predicts a fall of 70%.

Under these scenarios, the drop in international travel could lead to a loss of $910 billion to $1.2 trillion (about R16 trillion to R22 trillion) in export revenues from tourism, and of 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs.

While international tourism has taken a hit from the outbreak of disease in the past, the novel coronavirus is unprecedented in its geographic spread.

By comparison, international tourism arrivals fell by just 0.4% in 2003 after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome which killed 774 people worldwide. The UN body said most experts believe there will be signs of recovery by the final quarter of 2020. – AFP