International tourist arrivals down 87 per cent in January, possible rebound in second half of 2021

Travel Biz News —

International tourist arrivals decreased 87 per cent in January of this year as compared to 2020 due to devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global tourism.

All world regions continued to experience large drops in tourist arrivals in the first month of the year, according to the latest edition of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.

Global tourism suffered further setbacks in the beginning of the year as countries tightened travel restrictions in response to new virus outbreaks.

“Mandatory testing, quarantines, and in some cases the complete closure of borders, have all hindered the resumption of international travel. In addition, the speed and distribution of the vaccination roll-out have been slower than expected, further delaying the restart of tourism.”

The UN body has called for stronger coordination on travel protocols between countries to ensure the safe restart of tourism and avoid another year of massive losses for the sector.

The international community needs to take strong and urgent action to ensure a brighter 2021. Many millions of livelihoods and businesses are depending on it, UNWTO stated.

Asia and the Pacific, the region which continues to have the highest level of travel restrictions, recorded the largest decrease in international arrivals in January. Europe, Africa , Middle East and Americas recorded a drop on international arrivals .

With 32 per cent of all global destinations completely closed to international tourists at the beginning of February, UNWTO anticipates a challenging first few months of 2021 for global tourism.

UNWTO expects international tourist arrivals to be down about 85 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 over the same period of 2019 , a loss of some 260 million international arrivals compared to pre-pandemic levels.

UNWTO has outlined two scenarios for 2021, which consider a possible rebound in international travel in the second half of the year. These are based on a number of factors, most notably a major lifting of travel restrictions, the success of vaccination programmes or the introduction of harmonized protocols such as the Digital Green Certificate planned by the European Commission.

The first scenario points to a rebound in July, which would result in a 66 per cent increase in international arrivals for the year 2021 compared to the historic lows of 2020.  

The second scenario considers a potential rebound in September, leading to a 22 per cent increase in arrivals compared to last year.

March 31, 2021

Photo: UNWTO