COVID-19 and Tourism

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"COVID-19, the disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has had a greater impact on tourism and travel behaviour than any disease outbreak in living memory. Outside the public health sphere tourism has become one of the main public faces of COVID-19 in the international media". 


The nature of the tourism system means that tourism has both contributed to the spread of the disease and experienced the repercussions of the disease along all parts of the tourism value and supply chains. The disease’s global reach and the application of classic disease controls in the form of quarantine, reduced mobility and isolation have had a dramatic effect on international and domestic tourism alike along with a range of sector specific impacts, including transport, travel and booking agencies, hospitality, restaurants, conventions and events, and attractions. 



 

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered an unprecedented crisis in the tourism economy, given the immediate and immense shock to the sector. Revised OECD estimates on the COVID-19 impact point to 60% decline in international tourism in 2020. This could rise to 80% if recovery is delayed until December. International tourism within specific geographic-regions (e.g. in the European Union) is expected to rebound first. Domestic tourism, which accounts for around 75% of the tourism economy in OECD countries, is expected to recover more quickly. It offers the main chance for driving recovery, particularly in countries, regions and cities where the sector supports many jobs and businesses. 

The travel industry is a critical piece of numerous public economies, and the prompt and gigantic stun to the travel industry area coming about because of the Covid pandemic is influencing the more extensive economy. As governments around the globe have acquainted phenomenal measures with contain the infection, limitations on movement, business tasks and individuals to-individuals communications have carried the travel industry economy to a halt. Numerous nations are currently entering another stage in battling the infection while simultaneously dealing with the re-opening of the travel industry economy. This is a perplexing and testing task, and measuring the effect on the travel industry economy is troublesome. 





 Who's Most Vulnerable to COVID-19's Impact on Tourism? 



Infographic: Who's Most Vulnerable to COVID-19's Impact on Tourism? | Statista 



Italy and Spain have been among the countries hit earliest and hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. With more than 34,000 and 28,000 confirmed deaths at the time of this writing, both Italy and Spain have experienced the deadly force of the novel coronavirus, which killed more than 600,000 people globally and brought public life to a standstill across the globe. 

As if the deadly impact of COVID-19 weren't enough, Italy and Spain are also among the countries most vulnerable to the economic fallout of the pandemic. Both countries rely heavily on travel and tourism, which has come to a screeching halt in the past months and remains very limited to this day despite gradual reopenings. Moreover, both countries have struggled economically even before the outbreak, with high levels of public debt and unemployment rates among the highest of all OECD countries. 

As the following chart, based on data from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), shows, travel and tourism contributed 14.3 and 13.0 percent, respectively, to Spain’s and Italy’s GDP last year, including direct contributions from hotels, travel agents, airlines, restaurants and others as well as ripple effects from the billions of dollars, or euros for that matter, that tourists bring to their shores. In the United States for example, the total impact of travel and tourism was considerably smaller at 8.6 percent of GDP. Even at that lower rate, travel and tourism directly support more than 6 million jobs in the United States, with the total contribution to employment amounting to 16.8 million jobs in the U.S. according to WTTC. 

 


 


 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

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