Global tourism has had the worst year in its history

Global tourism has had the worst year in its history. The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 caused it to lose more than 1 trillion € in revenue as the number of foreign visitors plummeted. This was stated at the end of the week by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) based in Madrid. Last year's revenue loss was "more than 11 times greater than during the global economic crisis in 2009," the UNWTO said in a statement. The organization also warned that 100 to 120 million jobs in direct tourism are at risk.

The ubiquitous decline of tourists

Its data also show that the number of foreign tourists fell by one billion or 74% in 2020. Asia, the first region to experience the effects of Covid-19, has seen the largest drop in foreign visitors. "Although much has been done to make international travel safe and possible, we are aware that the crisis is far from over," said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. He expects vaccination against COVID-19 to "slowly normalize travel" by 2021. But due to the steady increase in infections and the emergence of new coronavirus strains, many countries are currently reintroducing travel restrictions such as quarantines, mandatory testing and border closures. According to UNWTO, the Asian and Pacific region saw a 84% drop in foreign tourist arrivals in 2020. This was followed by Africa and the Middle East with a 75% decline, Europe with a 70% drop in foreign visitors "despite a small and short-term recovery in the summer" and America, where arrivals fell by 69%. To illustrate, in 2019, the number of foreign tourists increased by 4% to 1.5 billion, with France being the most visited country in the world, followed by Spain and the United States. Until last year, the number of foreign tourists last decreased year-on-year in 2009, during the global economic crisis, by 4%.