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By APD writer Alice
Gloria Guevara, President CEO of the World Travel Tourism Council (WTTC), said on February 27 that the deadly coronavirus disease caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will cost world tourism at least $22 billion as a result of drops in the number of tourists and their spending, especially Chinese tourists.
It is too soon to know but the WTTC has made a preliminary calculation in collaboration with research firm Oxford Economics which estimates that the crisis will cost the sector at least $22 billion, said Gloria Guevara.
This calculation is based on the experience of previous crises, such as SARS or H1N1, and is based on losses deriving from Chinese tourists who have not been travelling in recent weeks, she said.
According to the WTTC representative, the figure is the most optimistic scenario, and the losses could more than double, reaching as much as $49 billion if the epidemic lasts as long as the SARS outbreak, which erupted in November 2002 and was brought under control in July 2003.
Even the global tourism sector could lose $73 billion if it lasted longer than that, Oxford Economics said.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, an estimated 200 million Chinese tourists traveled abroad annually, and Chinese tourists were also those who spent most when travelling in the world with approximately $277 billion USD per year. Researchers showed that the most vulnerable economies would be those most dependent on Chinese tourists, such as Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines.
Previously, Adviser to the World Tourism Organization (WTO) Saeed el-Batouti assessed that the COVID-19 outbreak is seriously affecting the global tourism and aviation industries, while also becoming the biggest obstacle to world economic growth.
According to the expert, the demand for air travel has decreased significantly due to the epidemic, causing the airlines’ revenue to drop a total of $29 billion this year. Meanwhile, hotel reservation rates have also fallen by 11% since the outbreak. The world tourism industry lost at least $3 billion so far.
By 6am on February 28, 82,774 people in nearly 50 countries and territories worldwide were infected with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the COVID-19. Of them, 2,814 died of the disease. In China, where the disease first emerged in December, the respective figures were 78,498 and 2,744.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
