UNWTO Reveals How the Pandemic Affected International Travel

It is not a secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit global tourism badly, and World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) once again proved this. According to the recently published data, international tourist arrivals between January and May 2021 were 85% below the results of 2019 and 65% below the results of 2020. It is safe to say that this is the biggest crisis that world tourism has ever seen in its history, and the industry has to stay in such a state for the second year.

Although there was some recovery in May, international tourism is much under pressure of the continued COVID-19 spread. There are still travel restrictions for foreign guests in most countries but domestic tourism starts to rebound slowly. Even hotels in London, Bangkok, Paris, and other gateway cities suffer from a drastic decline in visitors. As UNWTO reports, the number of overnight international arrivals in January to May decreased by 147 million compared to the same period of 2020 and by a whopping 460 million compared to the same period of 2019. That being said, there is slow growth in arrivals – the decline was 86% in April 2021 versus April 2019 and 83% in May 2021 versus May 2019.

As countries slowly lift restrictions or let fully vaccinated travelers enter, hotels and other tourist-related businesses become slightly optimistic. Moreover, consumer confidence is rising, and more people want to travel again.

When it comes to regional data, Asia and the Pacific had the biggest decline in arrivals (a drop of 95%) during the first five months of 2021 compared to 2019. Europe had the second-biggest decline in arrivals (a drop of 85%), and the Middle East and Africa scored third and fourth with declines of 83% and 81% respectively. The Americas had the lowest decrease among all regions (-72%).

What can international tourism expect in the coming months? The future is still unclear, and the chance of recovery is fragile at the moment. The Delta variant of the virus was responsible for outbreaks of the disease and made several countries reimpose travel restrictions. Vaccination programs around the world and eased requirements for vaccinated travelers, as well as digital tools like the EU Digital COVID Certificate give us hope that it will become normal again to travel abroad in the coming months.