2020 has been the worst year on record in the history of tourism with international arrivals plummeting 72 percent over the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period in 2019, according to United Nations World Tourism Organization.

With restrictions on travel, low consumer confidence and a global struggle to contain the COVID-19 virus, destinations have welcomed 900 million fewer international tourists in 2020, translating into a loss of US $935 billion in export revenues from international tourism – more than 10 times the loss in 2009 under the impact of the global economic crisis.

Based on the current evidence, the UNWTO expects international arrivals to decline 70-75 percent for the whole of the year to a level not seen since 1990 – a year when Germany reunified, the world wide web was founded, Brian Mulroney was prime minister, and Wilson Phillips ruled the music charts.

The United Nations specialized agency for tourism forecasts a rebound by the second half of 2021 based on the introduction of a vaccine that is expected to gradually increase consumer confidence and a diminishing number of countries closed to travel (down to 18 percent in early November from 82 percent in April).

However, with a return to 2019 levels in terms of international arrivals anticipated to take between two-and-a-half and four years, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili says, “There is still a long road to recovery.”