The World Tourism Organization says the Omicron variant will “interrupt recovery” in early 2022. (File)
Madrid, Spain:
The World Tourism Organization says tourist arrivals around the world will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024 at the earliest, the World Tourism Organization said on Tuesday.
The highly contagious Omicron variant, albeit mild, will “break the recovery” in early 2022 after last year saw 4% growth over 2020, according to Barometer Du. World Calendar of the United Nations agency based in Madrid.
Travel revenue in 2020 is down 72% year-over-year – that year ended with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The pace of recovery remains slow and uneven across regions of the world due to the level of travel restrictions, vaccination rates and tourist confidence,” UNWTO said in a press release.
In Europe and the Americas, foreign visitors increased by 19% and 17% respectively last year in 2020.
However, in the Middle East, arrivals have fallen by 24% in 2021, while in the Asia-Pacific region, this is 65% lower than in 2020 and 94% down from previous levels. epidemic.
The statement said travel experts “see a better outlook” for this year following uncertainties in the early months because of the Omicron waves.
The agency predicts international arrivals will increase between 30 and 78% this year from 2021, while still far below 2019 levels.
Most experts say they don’t foresee a return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2024.
Many countries rely heavily on tourism and are eagerly awaiting a return to normalcy.
“The economic contribution of tourism in 2021 (as measured by the tourism industry’s direct gross domestic product) is estimated at $1.9 trillion (€1.68 trillion), 1.6 more trillion dollars in 2020, but still far below the pre-pandemic value of $3.5 trillion,” the statement noted.
