Tourism industry experts fear long road to recovery

Coming off the worst year in tourism history, there’s little sense of optimism in the travel industry in early 2021. Following an estimated $1.3 trillion loss in export revenue in 2020, travel restrictions are being reintroduced at the start of the new year, as governments are trying to curb the spread of new, potentially more dangerous variants of the novel coronavirus.

While the brief recovery in the summer months of 2020 had fueled hopes of a quick recovery for the tourism sector, those hopes have been dashed by the fall/winter wave of the pandemic. According to a recent UNWTO survey, travel experts are now very cautious in their outlook, with the majority not expecting a return to pre-pandemic levels before 2023.

“While much has been made in making safe international travel a possibility, we are aware that the crisis is far from over,” UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said. “The harmonization, coordination and digitalization of COVID-19 travel-related risk reduction measures, including testing, tracing and vaccination certificates, are essential foundations to promote safe travel and prepare for the recovery of tourism once conditions allow.”