Covid has brought tourism to its knees, in Italy and all over the world. But exactly, to what extent? To quantify the damage caused by the various lockdowns, the closure of borders and the stop to air flights, is the OMT, the World Tourism Organization, and the response leaves no room for misunderstandings: the pandemic has resulted in losses of 320 billion dollars for global tourism between January and May, compared to the same period in 2019, a year in which, among other things, the sector's performance had been particularly brilliant.
Although travel restrictions are easing, tourists remain in short supply. Only in the first 5 months of 2020 the number of international travelers fell 56% (about 300 million fewer tourists than in the same period of 2019). In particular, arrivals in March decreased sharply, following the start of the pandemic and the lockdown imposed by individual countries to slow down the contagion.
It is by far the most serious crisis that international tourism has ever had to deal with three times higher losses compared to those recorded during the economic crisis of 2009.
In early May, the WTO predicted a collapse in international tourists for 2020 between 60% and 80%, with losses between 910-1.200 billions of dollars.
It was thought that reopening the world to tourism would save millions of jobs and, at the same time, protect family economies, so as to allow tourism to resume its role as a vital engine for the development of countries.
But the fear of a second wave, the distrust of using public transport together with possible new containment measures, continue to discourage travelers despite the long quarantine period and the desire to return to "normality".
As for the first signs of a recovery, we will have to wait at least until the last quarter of the year, if not even 2021, with domestic demand stronger than international demand.
It seems obvious that, at least for the time being, there will be a notable increase in domestic holidays. Local tourism, however, can only amortize costs temporarily, but not revive the economy of individual countries.
Furthermore, according to agency estimates, the jobs at risk in the behavior will be between 100 and 120 million. The resulting unemployment will certainly induce citizens to save money, with even more devastating effects on tourism.
Scary numbers, destined to radically change the tourism market as we know it.
