The coronavirus pandemic shook the world tourism industry and inflicted heavy downfall of businesses. Thousands of people lost their employment; They shut many travel agencies. The unprecedented consequences of the virus are still challenging the industry’s revival. However, time being the best healer, things now seem to be getting better.
2020: The year of straight downfall
As the coronavirus pandemic spread across countries, international borders for travel and tourism were shut immediately. However, the year 2019 was a year of growth and development for the industry. With the improvement in using technology, travel agencies have adapted to the digital medium.
However, 2020 became a year of complete downfall. The most unfortunate consequence regards the loss of employment among the younger generation and women. The world tourism industry employs the younger generation, women, and marginalised communities on a large scale. Thus, the worst consequences were faced by the economically and socially weaker sections of society.
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Summer 2021 brought a ray of hope
After a year of depressing economies and industries, the 2021 summer brought a ray of hope. Thanks to the advancements in medical science, the coronavirus vaccine became the only soldier to get the world back on its feet.
With mass vaccination drives across countries, rising immunity against the virus and better medical infrastructure, the infection rate got under control in many countries; however, some are still under severe conditions.
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In a recent report, the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer showcased that the world tourism industry experienced green shoots of recovery in summer 2021. June and July welcomed international tourism. Several countries opened their borders to foreign visitors as COVID-19 cases dropped, and vaccination picked up the pace.
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Geographical variations
According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, around 54 million tourists traveled internationally in July. However, the count is 67% down compared to international tourism in July 2019. But this is the maximum recovery experienced by the tourism sector since the advent of the pandemic.
In July 2020, there were only 34 million international tourists, which is far below the number of international travellers, in July 2019: 164 million. In 2021, Asia and Pacific’s regions seem to be suffering the most, with international arrivals down by 95% compared to 2019.
However, some islands in Africa and a handful of European countries saw high demand for international tourism; some even had more demand in June and July 2021 than pre-pandemic times.
However, most destinations in Asia remained closed, causing complete stagnancy of international arrivals. Interestingly, Mexico’s tourism sector earned almost the same revenue as in June 2019 and a two per cent increase in July 2021.
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Despite a bad performance to tackle COVID-19 initially, the United States saw significant improvement in July 2021. For example, France’s international tourist arrivals were down by 35% in July, comparatively better than other nations.
Conclusively, summer 2021 has been cheerful for most countries, except a few Asian regions. However, one significant issue has been: different vaccines in different countries, causing chaos regarding registration and vaccine passports. However, with better policies lately, more vaccines are being recognised internationally, thus, opening doors for better tourism opportunities in the coming months.
SOURCE: KALKINE MEDIA
