Madrid, Jan 18 (AFP\/APP): Tourism arrivals around the world are not expected to return to their pre-pandemic levels until 2024 at the earliest, the World Tourism Organization said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The highly contagious Omicron variant, though mild, will “disrupt the recovery” in early 2022 after last year saw four percent growth over 2020, according to the Madrid-based UN agency’s World Tourism Barometer.<\/p>\n
Tourism revenue in 2020 was 72 percent down on the previous year — which closed with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
“The pace of recovery remains slow and uneven across world regions due to varying degrees of mobility restrictions, vaccination rates and traveller confidence,” the UNWTO said in a press release.<\/p>\n
In Europe and the Americas, foreign visitor arrivals surged by 19 percent and 17 percent, respectively, last year over 2020.<\/p>\n
In the Middle East, however, arrivals declined by 24 percent in 2021, while in the Asia-Pacific region they were 65 percent below 2020 levels and 94 percent down on pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n
The statement said tourism professionals “see better prospects” for this year after turbulence in the early months because of the Omicron wave.<\/p>\n
The agency predicts a 30 to 78 percent rise in international arrivals this year over 2021, while remaining far below 2019 levels.<\/p>\n
Most experts say they do not foresee a return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2024, it said.<\/p>\n
Many countries are highly dependent on tourism and are eagerly awaiting a return to normal.<\/p>\n
“The economic contribution of tourism in 2021 (measured in tourism direct gross domestic product) is estimated at $1.9 trillion (1.68 trillion euros), above the $1.6 trillion in 2020, but still well below the pre-pandemic value of $3.5 trillion,” the statement noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Madrid, Jan 18 (AFP\/APP): Tourism arrivals around the world are not expected to return to their pre-pandemic levels until 2024 at the earliest, the World Tourism Organization said Tuesday. The highly contagious Omicron variant, though mild, will “disrupt the recovery” in early 2022 after last […]<\/p>\n
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