(TAN): A shocking number of travel-related jobs are at risk owing to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
The WTTC said the outbreak could put up to 75 million jobs at “immediate risk” in the global tourism industry, thereby leading to a global GDP loss of up to USD 2.1 trillion in 2020.
The latest estimate showed a 50% increase in jobs at risk, which came less than two weeks after the WTTC said the pandemic could cost 50 million tourism jobs worldwide, which amounts to a loss of three months of global travel.
Soon after, the organisation, which represents the global travel and tourism private sector, revealed “a staggering one million jobs are being lost every day in the Travel and Tourism sector due to the sweeping effect of the coronavirus pandemic”.
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Of all the geographical regions, Asia-Pacific is expected to take the hardest blow with a maximum of 49 million job losses across the region, translating to a loss in tourism GDP of nearly USD 800 billion, the study suggested.
The Americas could also be heavily impacted, with the United States, Canada and Mexico together expected to lose up to USD 570 billion, and find nearly seven million tourism-related jobs at risk. In Africa, 4.4 million jobs are expected to be at risk while in the Middle East, the number could be 1.8 million with up to USD 65 billion loss to the region’s economy, the research indicated.
Europe, on the other hand, could endure losses worth USD 552 billion and up to 10 million jobs at risk. Germany and Russia could bear the heaviest impact of all European countries – with almost 1.6 million and 1.1 million in potential job losses.
Other countries that could suffer during the crisis include Brazil, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, Indonesia and India.
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WTTC President and Chief Executive Officer, Gloria Guevara said immediate action needs to be taken to prevent an economic meltdown.
“The number of jobs now at risk in the global Travel & Tourism sector is a staggering 75 million, bringing real and profound worry to millions of families around the world. This chilling new figure also represents the collective delay by many governments around the world to react quickly enough to come to the aid of a sector which is the backbone of the global economy,” she said.
“If urgent action is not taken within the next few days, the Travel & Tourism sector faces an economic meltdown from which it will struggle to recover and plunge millions of people dependent upon it for their livelihoods into debt. Not only will this have an enormous negative impact on major businesses in the Travel & Tourism sector around the world, the ‘domino effect’ will also result in massive job losses across the entire supply chain, hitting employees and those in self-employment. We call on all those in positions of power to help the powerless and enact policies to support and sustain a sector which is a driving force of the global economy and responsible for generating one in five of all new jobs,” Guevara added.
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