(TAN): United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has found that as many as 115 countries — 53% of all destinations worldwide — have eased travel restrictions. Of these, two have lifted all restrictions, while the remaining 113 continue to have certain restrictive measures in place as of September 1.
UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Coordinated leadership and enhanced cooperation between governments means tourism is slowly but steadily restarting in many parts of the world. Starting to ease restrictions on travel opens also the doors for tourism’s social and economic benefits to return. While we must remain vigilant and cautious, we are concerned about those destinations with ongoing full travel restrictions, especially where tourism is a lifeline and economic and social development are under threat.”
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The Covid-19 related travel restrictions report shows, destinations which have eased travel restrictions generally have high or very high levels of health and hygiene infrastructure. They also tend to have comparatively low Covid-19 infection rates. Within advanced economies, 79% of tourism destinations have already eased restrictions.
In emerging economies, just 47% of destinations have done so. As much as 64% of those destinations which have eased have a high or medium dependence on air as a mode of transport for international tourism arrivals.
However, 93 destinations (43% of all worldwide destinations) continue to have their borders completely closed to tourism, of which 27 have had their borders closed for at least 30 weeks. These are classified as being among the world’s most vulnerable countries.
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