MADRID — The ***** Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has officially declared 2020 as the ***** year on record for global tourism, with destinations worldwide welcoming one billion fewer international arrivals than in the previous year.

According to the latest UNWTO ***** Tourism Barometer, this collapse in international travel represents an estimated loss of US$1.3 trillion in export revenues, more than 11 times the loss recorded during the 2009 global economic ******. The 2020 global health ****** has put between 100 and 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk, many of them in small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The latest UNWTO Panel of Experts survey shows a mixed outlook for 2021. Almost half of respondents (45%) envisaged better prospects for 2021 compared to last year, while 25% expect a similar performance and 30% foresee worsening results this year.

The overall prospects of a rebound in 2021 seem to have worsened, with 50% of respondents now expecting a rebound to occur only in 2022, compared to 21% in October 2020. The remaining half of respondents still see a potential rebound this year, though below the expectations shown in the October 2020 survey in which 79% expected recovery in 2021.

Looking further ahead, most experts do not anticipate a return to pre-******** levels before 2023. In fact, 43% of respondents point to 2023, while 41% expect a return to 2019 levels in 2024 or later. UNWTO’s extended scenarios for 2021-2024 indicate that it could take two and a half to four years for international tourism to return to 2019 levels.

Asia and the Pacific, the first region to suffer the impact of the ******** and the one with the highest level of travel restrictions currently in place, recorded the largest decrease in arrivals in 2020 at -84%, or 300 million fewer arrivals. The *********** and Africa both recorded a 75% decline, while Europe saw a 70% decrease despite a small and short-lived revival in the summer of 2020. The region suffered the largest drop in absolute terms, with over 500 million fewer international tourists in 2020. The Americas saw a 69% decrease in international arrivals following somewhat better results in the last quarter of 2020.