The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) on Friday said that up to 50 million jobs in the travel and tourism industry are at stake due to the coronavirus pandemic. The WTTC also said that if the present situation persists, the global travel and tourism could be adversely affected by up to 25% in 2020.
The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the coronavirus outbreak as pandemic. Coronavirus has hit had the global economy with businesses across the world suffering. The travel and tourism industry seems to be the biggest casualty so far with airline companies running into losses owing to cancellation of flights and customers cancelling booking for hotels.
Travel and Tourism industry bleeds
The world travel and tourism could shrink by up to 25% this year and affect around 50 million jobs, said WTTC's president Gloria Guevara. This equates to almost loss of three months of global travel. This could directly impact millions of jobs. Per the WTTC, this could lead to reduction of jobs by 12% to 14%. Guevara said: 'WTTC figures show the stark impact on the travel and tourism sector of the present Covid-19 outbreak, with analysis now suggesting that up to 50 million jobs are at risk in the sector globally.
China, which accounts for a large number of tourists and business travelers every year, has already been suffering for almost two months now. United States accounts for almost 850,000 tourists from Europe every month, which equates to a monthly contribution of $3.4 billion to the US economy. Naturally, this will impact not only the travel and tourism industry but also the economy of the countries.
Job loss looms large
The travel and tourism industry taking a hit owing to the coronavirus outbreak will directly affect millions of jobs. According to WTTC, Asia is likely to be impacted the most. WTTC said that of the 50 million jobs that are likely to be lost, Asia will account for 30 million of them. Europe is likely to be the next big casualty and might witness around seven million job losses, while five million will be affected in the American and the rest in other countries.
WTTC, which is headquartered in London, on Friday also appealed to the governments to come forward and take a series of measures to help swift recovery of the sector once Covid-19 is contained and is under control. It also appealed to government for removal and simplification of visa rules, cutting travel taxes, introducing incentives and lifting the 80-20 'use it lose it' airport slot rule for airlines.
