With the uncertain outbreak of COVID-19 across the globe, after the global economy USA, the European Union was badly affected. No doubt that it has slowed down the economy across the globe. Speaking of the economy it has been forecasted that the economy will shrink by 3% which is worst affected after the great depression of the 1930s.
Today there are 51 countries in Europe out of which the worst affected are Russia, Spain, France, UK, Italy, etc. with the most cases. The tourism industry has been badly hit by the prevailing lockdown and COVID-19 situation across the globe for the past 9 months, the industry is trying to revive with the current ease given by the government. The first confirmed case was found in France, which was on January 25th. As of October 2020, the total number of novel coronavirus cases in the EU is 40,856,197 including 1,125,756 deaths. The death rate is highest in the UK which is 65.9% followed by Italy at 60.59% and France at 50.23%. Europe is everyone’s favorite destination and the global leader in international tourism known for its mixed culture, history, art, fashion, food, etc. Having the best and the most wonderful heritages of the world attracts 538 million global tourists which accounts for 50% of the world tourist population which also accounts for the rise in EU’s GDP.
The top destinations are France, Spain, Italy and yes these are the countries that have been badly affected by the novel coronavirus with the highest number of death tolls that peaked in March 2020- May 2020. The losses faced due to COVID-19 by the tourism industry is huge! The government is trying to support through financial assistance. A report from the Eurobarometer paper revealed that around one in 165 people from the population in Europe engages in the tourism industry.
According to the recent report released by the United Nations, only 5% of the tourist population visited Paris, one of the popular destinations in Europe. The world tourism organization also predicted that there will be a decrease in 60- 80% of tourists visiting Europe in 2020. The EU accounts for half of the world’s tourist arrival. Revenue is expected to decline in the hotel industry, restaurants, and tour/ travel agents by 50-70%. Several livelihoods are dependent completely on tourism and COVID-19 has impacted many such livelihoods across all the continents of the world.
“120 million direct jobs are at risk related to the tourism industry both in a developed and developing country. “
For women, rural communities’ tourism is a part of their empowerment, integration, and source of generating income. To aid for the loss several organizations are putting forward the ways of recovery –
The recovery could be done by 4 key recoveries as suggested by a report of ADB:
1. Local tourism can be boosted in such a way that will bring better conditions along with safety precautions to be followed even after the post-COVID-19 situations.
2. Ecological protection – In the COVID-19 times, it has been evident that there was a recovery in climate change and ecological change due to nationwide lockdowns that were followed across the globe.
3. Improved Infrastructure – Improved infrastructure management and preparedness of local bodies for unforeseen situations.
4. Rethinking flying – Tax reforms in such a way where it levied on people who are frequent flyers as even aviation companies are bankrupting.
Protecting key assets of any region is a fundamental pillar of any recovery ensuring that to end one problem, another doesn’t pop out. When planning and implementation are done strategically tourism sector can match the potential for the wellbeing of socio-economic and environmental welfare.
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