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Tourism hits reset button

Tourism projects are set to capitalise on the post-pandemic urge to travel and enjoy new experiences again

Just how bad 2020 was for the global tourism industry is difficult to understate. 

According to the United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the collapse in international travel during the year resulted in a loss of $1.3tn in export revenues – more than 11 times the loss recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis. 

At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic and its resulting lockdown measures put between 100 and 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk.  

Against such a negative backdrop, the global tourism industry had good reason to be pessimistic about the road ahead. 

Nearly two years after the start of the pandemic, the industry is now looking forward to much better times ahead. 

Speaking via video address at the Arabian Hotel and Investment Conference (Ahic) in Dubai in September, Chris Nassetta, president and CEO of global hotel operator Hilton, said: “We are going to unleash an unbelievable amount of demand for people to get out, see the world and have experiences again.

“I think we will be in a new era or age, a golden age of travel that will be even better than what we experienced pre-Covid.” Read more here

This package on the Middle East's tourism sector also includes:

> Region’s hospitality sector on cusp of a new boom
> Tourism hits reset button
> Regional tourism projects gather pace
> Expo fever takes hold in the UAE