Abstract:
The travel and tourism industry was one of the first real sectors to be affected by COVID-19.
The crisis has impacted every facet of the industry and demonstrated the vulnerability of
the sector’s vast value chain. Since 2000, global travel and tourism revenues have nearly
tripled with the sector now contributing 10.4 percent of global Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) and providing one out of 10 jobs worldwide. As of mid-April 2020, international
travel has ground to a halt. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates global
travel could shrink by more than 30 percent in 2020. According to the United Nation World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 100 percent of destinations have some level of travel
restrictions in place, with 72 percent of countries completely stropping international travel.1
Increasingly, countries are discouraging both international and domestic travel. Latest figures
from WTTC show that globally 100 million jobs are at risk in the sector with a potential
global loss of up to $2.7 trillion in 2020
Description:
The note responds to the COVID-19 crisis that hit the tourism
sector in the first quarter of 2020. The crisis is ongoing, so any
recommendations made in this report should be considered
through the lens of developments that have taken place in the
intervening period
