IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON

WORLD TOURISM
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the tourism industry due to the
resulting travel restrictions as well as slump in demand among travelers.
The tourism industry has been massively affected by the spread of
coronavirus, as many countries have introduced travel restrictions in an
attempt to contain its spread. The United Nations World Tourism
Organization estimated that global international tourist arrivals might decrease by
58% to 78% in 2020, leading to a potential loss of US$0.9–1.2 trillion in
international tourism receipts.

In many of the world's cities, planned travel went down by 80–90%.[3] Conflicting
and unilateral travel restrictions occurred regionally and many tourist attractions
around the world, such as museums, amusement parks, and sports venues closed.
UNWTO reported a 65% drop in international tourist arrivals in the first six months
of 2020. Air passenger travel showed a similar decline. The United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development released a report in June 2021 stating that
the global economy could lose over US$4 trillion as a result of the pandemic.
ECONOMIC GROWTH
COVID-19 impact on tourism could deal $4 trillion blow to global
economy: UN report

• As the world is facing an unprecedented global health, social and economic emergency with the COVID-19
pandemic, travel and tourism is among the most affected sectors with airplanes on the ground, hotels closed and travel
restrictions put in place in virtually all countries around the world.
• Therefore, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has launched a new dashboard on COVID-19 and tourism which
shows data on the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector across the world, by regions and by destinations.  
• The dashboard includes data on:
• International tourist arrivals
• International tourism receipts
• Vulnerability of destinations
• Tourism as share of GDP
• Tourism as share in total exports
• International tourism as share of total tourism (including domestic)
• Impact assessment of COVID-crisis on tourism
• Impact assessment of previous crises on tourism
• The UNWTO COVID-19 and Tourism dashboard is available for free and is updated monthly.
FALL DOWN OF TOURIST ARRIVALS
 COVID-19 IMPACT
• The COVID crisis has led to a collapse in international travel. According
to the World Tourism Organization, international tourist arrivals
declined globally by 73 percent in 2020, with 1 billion fewer travelers
compared to 2019, putting in jeopardy between 100 and 120 million
direct tourism jobs. This has led to massive losses in international
revenues for tourism-dependent economies: specifically, a collapse in
exports of travel services (money spent by nonresident visitors in a
country) and a decline in exports of transport services (such as airline
revenues from tickets sold to nonresidents).
INTERNATIONAL TOURIST ARRIVALS