(TAN): The US has maintained its position as the largest global travel and tourism market, despite suffering a huge 41% fall in GDP last year, the the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) said.
China also kept its position as second biggest travel and tourism market, but experienced a harder GDP fall of 59.9% with Japan slightly improving its ranking — from fourth to third — shouldering a GDP fall nearly half that of China, of just 37%. The UK, which in 2019 ranked as the world’s fifth biggest market, fell three places to number eight, sustaining a punishing GDP fall of 62.3%.
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Continuing travel restrictions, and unnecessary and crushing quarantines, caused it to suffer the biggest collapse of the 10 largest markets. The figures from WTTC, which represents the global travel and tourism private sector, come from its 2021 Economic Impact Report (EIR), which lays bare the devastating impact of Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said: “With positive news from across Europe about the gradual reopening of borders we hope to see many more countries adopt a more risk-based approach. This will restore mobility safely through rapid testing and health and hygiene protocols in addition to the benefit of the vaccination rollout. The urgent need to restore international travel is starkly evident following the release of WTTC’s data which shows the global Travel & Tourism sector suffered disproportionately hard due to the pandemic.”
WTTC’s 2021 Economic Impact Report (EIR) identified other leading global Travel & Tourism markets as suffering similar dramatic GDP falls.
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Germany dropped one place from third to fourth position, following a 46.9% drop in the sector’s contribution towards GDP. Meanwhile, Italy rose one place from sixth to fifth, despite experiencing a 51% fall in GDP contribution. Notably, France, the world’s popular destination in terms of international visitor numbers, rose one position from seventh to sixth, despite its contribution to GDP falling by almost half (48.8%).
WTTC 2021 EIR research revealed the global Travel & Tourism sector suffered a loss of almost USD 4.5 trillion in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic, with nearly 62 million jobs lost, representing a drop of 18.5%, leaving just 272 million employed across the industry globally.
