Global tourism lost USD 320 billion in 5 months from virus

The tourism global industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, with USD 320 billion lost in exports in the first five months of the year and more than 120 million jobs at risk.

Key-Points

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that tourism is the third-largest export sector of the global economy, behind fuels and chemicals, and in 2019 it accounted for 7 per cent of global trade.

It employs one in every 10 people on Earth and provides livelihoods to hundreds of millions more.

But in the first five months of 2020, because of the pandemic, international tourist arrivals decreased by more than half and earnings plummeted.

The USD 320 billion in lost exports from January through May is three times what was lost during the year 2009 at the height of the last global financial crisis.