A drop of around 74 percent in international arrivals or one billion less international arrivals in 2020, compared to 2019 information, where all the impact of the widespread reach of the Coronavirus and its new strains that recently emerged in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Africa and have been identified in other countries by now.
In export revenues, around USD 1.3 trillion have been lost, in international travel in 2020, over 11 times the loss listed in the global economic crisis in 2009, the data published by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has been disclosed.
Because of the financial crunches, provoked by the virus, between 100 and 120 million jobs related to tourism were exposed to an unpleasant situation, majority of which are small and medium-sized enterprises, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
When the virus spread started spreading worldwide, maximum governments closed their international borders, imposed quarantine rules, and travel restrictions as the needed preventive measures to stop the deadly virus from spreading. However, such responses fetched in destructive situation of the finances for tourism sector among other industries affected harshly.
In November 2020, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) had seen that by the end of 2020, significant number of people could lose their jobs, if the countries worldwide do not raise their restrictions related to travel.
“The harmonization, coordination, and digitalization of COVID-19 travel-related risk reduction measures, including testing, tracing and vaccination certificates, are essential foundations to promote safe travel and prepare for the recovery of tourism once conditions allow,” Pololikashvili pointed out.
