Newly released data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) highlights a weak start to 2021, with both good and bad news for the travel industry.
The bad news is perhaps unsurprising: The first three months of the year represented the worst quarter ever recorded for the tourism sector. The good news, however, is that these numbers also point to a slow rise in consumer confidence that could lead to a rebound this summer.
According to the data, widespread travel restrictions pushed international tourist arrivals down by 83% in comparison to the first quarter of 2020, with 180 million fewer international tourists venturing outside their home countries. The greatest losses continue to be suffered by Asia and the Pacific, as the region saw a 94% drop in international arrivals between January and March 2021.
Europe, which was also among the hardest hit in the early days of the pandemic, recorded the second largest decline with 83%. Africa is a close third with a drop of 81%, followed by the Middle East (78%) and the Americas (71%).
The latest survey of the UNWTO Panel of Tourism Experts shows promising improvements for the May-August period of this year with the vaccine rollout in key international travel markets playing a large role, in addition to new government policies designed to restart tourism safely.
Vaccinations will be key for recovery, but we must improve coordination and communication while making testing easier and more affordable if we want to see a rebound for the summer season in the northern hemisphere.
“There is significant pent-up demand, and we see confidence slowly returning,” said Zurab Pololikashvili, UNWTO secretary-general, in a statement. “Vaccinations will be key for recovery, but we must improve coordination and communication while making testing easier and more affordable if we want to see a rebound for the summer season in the northern hemisphere.”
Overall, the latest figures also show an uptick in confidence about the return of travel and tourism. In January 2021, 50% of respondents said they expected to see a rebound in international tourism in 2022. Now, that number is up to 60%, with the remaining 40% expecting a comeback as soon as 2021, though this number is slightly down from January. However, nearly half of the experts surveyed do not believe the international tourism industry will return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2024, if not later.
For more information, read the full UNWTO report.
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United Nations World Tourism Organization
