LONDON — The outlook looks grim for global Travel & Tourism, with up to 75 million jobs at immediate risk due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the alarming figure shows a “punishing” Travel & Tourism GDP loss to the world economy of up to US$2.1 trillion in 2020.
The latest projection of a 50% increase in jobs at risk – in less than two weeks – represents a worrying trend, with an astounding one million jobs being lost every day in the Travel & Tourism sector.
WTTC’s analysis also shows the depth of the crisis for individual regions, with Asia-Pacific expected to be the most heavily impacted. It’s set to lose 49 million jobs throughout the region, representing a loss of nearly US$800 billion to Travel & Tourism GDP. Germany is set to be the most affected country in Europe, with almost 1.6 million jobs at risk, followed by Russia (1.1 million), Italy and the U.K. (one million each).
The Americas are also expected to be hit hard, with Canada, the United States and Mexico set to lose up to $570 billion combines, with nearly seven million jobs in Travel & Tourism at risk.
“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,” said Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO. “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.”
Guevara warns that 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 sector around the world, she adds, the domino effect will also result in massive job losses across the entire supply chain.
Travel & Tourism contributes to 10.4% of the Global GDP, and is directly responsible for generating one in 10 of the world’s jobs. For eight successive years it has outpaced the growth of the global economy.
