If ever there remained any lingering doubts about the tourism-dependent nature of the global economy those were, this week, completely erased by the stunning revelation from United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres that the coronavirus pandemic had cost the global industry a staggering US$320 billion in exports between January and May this year and continues to put in excess of 120 million jobs at prolonged risk.
The third largest export sector in the global economy, behind fuels and chemicals, tourism has been decimated by the multi-faceted manifestations of the pandemic which have struck at the heart of the sector including the airline and cruise ship industries and has caused most high profile tourism-dependent countries to draw the shutters on foreign visitors. Last year the industry accounted for seven per cent of all global trade. Tourism “employs one in every ten people on earth and provides livelihoods to hundreds of millions more,” Gutterres said, adding in a terse policy briefing that that tourism also “allows people to experience some of the world’s cultural and natural riches and brings people closer to each other, highlighting our common humanity.”
