Arab Tourism Organization expects lower tourism revenues in Arab world

Arab Tourism Organization President Bandar bin Fahd Al Fahid said the tourism movement saw a larger-than-expected global decline in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, as the number of international tourists are expected. to record a contraction of 64.7% in 2020 compared to 2019, indicating that it is 6.7% less compared to the expectations of the rapid recovery scenario published last May. He added that the number of international tourist arrivals could reach 516 million tourists by the end of 2020, so that international tourism revenues will decline by 68%, resulting in losses of up to $ 474 billion, this which will lead to a decrease in the economic multiplier. the tourism sector in the economy as a whole, especially in developing countries which depend heavily on tourism as a source of national income and job creation.

A report by the Arab Tourism Organization and the Arab Air Transport Association, on the impact of the “Corona” pandemic on the tourism and travel sectors, said the decline in tourism revenues in the Arab world The Arab Tourism Organization and the Arab Air Transport Association predicted a decline in tourism receipts worldwide. Al-Arabi has grown 69.1 percent this year, resulting in losses of up to $ 28 billion.

On the other hand, the secretary general of the Arab Air Transport Association, Abdel-Wahab Tuffaha, said he expects the world economy to register a contraction of 4.9% in 2020 compared to 2019, and the Arab economy by 5.7%, indicating that the global economy is expected to recover in 2021 and the Arab economy in 2022, based on the rapid recovery scenario, and if not is not achieved, the global and Arab economies will recover in 2023, based on the slow recovery scenario. He pointed out that the evolution of passenger traffic in the current year compared to 2019 had decreased from 54.7 to 40.4% and in the Arab world from 57.1 to 34%.

According to the report, the loss of the total contribution of tourism and travel to the global gross product is expected to be around $ 5.5 trillion, which is a decrease of 62.3% compared to the year 2019. As for estimates of losses in the Arab world are expected to reach 194 billion dollars in 2020 compared to 2019, so that the total contribution of tourism and travel to the total product in the Arab world is around 72 billion dollars, which represents a decrease of 72.9% compared to the year 2019. The losses of the global sector of jobs amount to 197.5 million jobs worldwide and approximately 7.5 million jobs in the Arab world.