The Hospitality Industry Appeals to Authorities to Relax Travel Restrictions

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the number of employments worldwide in travel is likely to expand only 0.7% this year, with the sector limited by mobility restrictions and uneven availability to Covid-19 vaccinations.

The government may save over 19 million jobs by the end of 2021 if they continue to relax travel restrictions and enable travellers to produce digital proof of vaccination and testing, as shown in research from the Council on Foreign Relations.

“There is a chance to preserve jobs and enhance economic income if government start looking worldwide and support travel and tourism with simpler standards to facilitate the safe resumption of travel,” said Julia Simpson, WTTC president and Chief Executive.

The Covid-19 outbreak brought the travel and tourist industry to a halt in 2020, resulting in border closures, halted aeroplanes, and enormous job losses.

“While next year looks more promising in terms of the global economy and jobs,” Ms Simpson said, “The present rate of recovery is just not quick enough and is mostly driven by domestic travel, which will not achieve complete economic recovery”.

The number of travel and tourism employment might return to pre-pandemic levels by next year if governments take the necessary steps as per WTTC.

As the sector’s contribution to the global economy expands in 2022, jobs might surpass 2019 levels, growing 20.1% year on year, reaching more than 349 million, as per the WTTC statistics.

According to the study, the industry contributed over $9.2 trillion to the global economy in 2019. However, the downturn resulted in a 49.1% year-on-year reduction in the sector’s contribution to global GDP in 2020.

While travel and tourism are expected to enhance the global economy by 30.7 % year-on-year in 2021, this will only amount to $1.4 trillion and will be mostly driven by domestic expenditure.

As Per WTTC statistics, given the present rate of recovery, the sector’s contribution to the global economy might result in a relatively modest increase of 31.7 % in 2022.