UNWTO report: 2020 is Worst Year on Record

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has highlighted that the year 2020 the worst year on record.

Key findings of the report

• The UNWTO has made this statement in the light that global tourism suffered massively because of the international travel bans that was into force in order to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
• As per the report, the international arrivals have dropped by 74 percent.
• Further, the destinations across the world allowed 1 billion fewer international arrivals than it was in 2019.
• The report further highlights that, the restrictions in the international travel has resulted in the loss of USD 1.3 trillion in export revenues.
• This loss in the export revenues is more than 11 times the loss that occurred during the global economic crisis in 2009.
• As per the report, the COVID-19 crisis has an impact on 100-120 million direct tourism jobs. Many of them are in the small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Report highlighted that, the nature of pandemic is evolving due to which many countries are reintroducing the stricter travel restrictions such as changes in the quarantine rules, mandatory testing and complete closure of borders in some countries.

UNWTO’s take on Vaccine

The UNWTO report states that the countries are gradually rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine. The organization expects that this will help in restoring the consumer confidence and will contribute in easing the travel restrictions. Thus, the travel will slowly normalize in 2021 ahead.

UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)

UNWTO is the United Nations specialized agency. The agency is involved in the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. It is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. UNWTO is the leading international organization in the field of tourism. It promotes the tourism as a driver of economic growth. The agency serves as a global forum for tourism policy issues.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2021