UN Tourism Organization has plans of limping towards normalcy

Travel and tourism is one of the most badly hit industries around the world. As coronavirus showing no signs of slowing down, UN tourism organization is taking reviews of 217 worldwide destinations to plan towards reopening. The report finds that 3 per cent of all destinations have taken steps to ease restrictions.  Seven destinations have eased restrictions for international tourism purposes, while several more are still engaged in discussions.

The report states that 100 per cent of all destinations worldwide continue to have some COVID-19 travel restrictions in place; 75 per cent are still completely closed to international tourism.  In 37 per cent of all cases, restrictions have been in place for 10 weeks, while 24 per cent have had controls in place for 14 weeks or more.

“The timely and responsible easing of travel restrictions will help ensure the many social and economic benefits that tourism guarantees will return in a sustainable way”, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said.

The more important tourism is to individual economies, the more likely it is that countries have responded with complete border closures.  In the case of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the report finds that 85 per cent continue to remain completely closed to tourists.

In all UNWTO regions, more than 65 per cent of their destinations remain completely closed to tourism:  Africa (74 per cent), the Americas (86 per cent), Asia and the Pacific (67 per cent), Europe (74 per cent) and the Middle East (69 per cent).