Expecting the Unexpected : Tools and Policy Considerations to Support the Recovery and Resilience of the Tourism Sector
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Date
2022-06
Authors
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Publisher
World Bank, Washington, DC
Abstract
Tourism has been, and continues to be, one of the most affected sectors by the pandemic, resulting in negative socio-economic consequences for host communities in destinations as well as for underlying endowments that rely on tourists’ expenditure for maintenance and management. Early in 2020 as governments attempted to protect their populations, lockdowns, quarantines,and restrictions on national and international mobility were implemented. This, coupled with the decision of consumers to limit international travel resulted in a sharp contraction for the tourism sector with severe economic consequences, particularly in tourism-dependent low-resource countries. In 2020 international tourist arrivals declined by 74 percent globally and by an average of 85 percent in emerging economies. The
situation persisted in 2021 marked by volatility due to emerging variants, with global international arrivals remaining 61 percent below pre-pandemic (2019) levels. In 2021, the economic contribution of tourism improved by US$300m over 2020, however this was still US$1.6 trillion below pre-pandemic values. While travel in 2022 is increasing, and the prognosis for many hotel and tour operators is optimistic for the rest of the year, the effects of the prolonged demand contraction on supply-side enterprises and destinations has been devastating. Analysts continue to expect the sector’s full recovery
to take a number of years, an outlook that has been recently dampened by inflation, the Ukraine war and related geopolitical and macroeconomic instability.
The aim of this report is to provide insights regarding the types of interventions governments have already implemented and policy considerations for supporting the recovery and resilience of the tourism sector going forward, particularly in light of structural demand and supply-side transformations precipitated or accelerated by COVID-19. The report studies the challenges for recovery faced by governments and the sector from the context of preexisting market and government failures that have been exacerbated by the crisis, as well as those emerging from the pandemic. The report includes several key findings and recommendations.
Description
Tourism for Development - Rebuilding Tourism Competitiveness : from Crisis to Sustainability.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden demand-side contractions in travel and tourism activities during 2020 and 2021 precipitated unprecedented shocks to the entire global tourism economy.
Keywords
Global tourism, Economic impact, COVID-19
Citation
World Bank. 2022. Expecting the Unexpected: Tools and Policy Considerations to Support the Recovery and Resilience of the Tourism Sector. Washington, DC: World Bank.