Up to 75m jobs are at immediate risk in global travel & tourism due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
The figure, based on research from WTTC, shows a Travel & Tourism GDP loss to the world economy of up to US$2.1 trillion in 2020.
The latest projection of a 50% increase in jobs at risk, in less than two weeks, represents a significant and worrying trend, with an astounding one million jobs being lost every day in the Travel & Tourism sector, due to the sweeping effect of the Covid-19 pandemic Analysis by WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, also exposes the depth of the crisis in the UK, with up to one million jobs at risk, leading to a total GDP loss of more than £52.2bn (US$61bn).
Latest research suggests across the EU, the Travel & Tourism sector faces a risk of 6.4m jobs, totalling a GDP loss of up to US$413bn. While Europe is the third most heavily impacted global market, WTTC figures show Asia Pacific’s Travel & Tourism sector continues to suffer the brunt of theoutbreak. In China alone, up to 26m jobs are at risk, with the country facing a GDP loss of US$490bn.
Gloria Guevara, WTTC president and CEO, said: “The number of jobs now at risk in the global Travel & Tourism sector is a staggering 75m, bringing real and profound worry to millions of families around the world.
“This chilling latest figure also represents the collective delay by many governments around the world to react quickly enough to come to the aid of a sector which is the backbone of the global economy.
“If urgent action is not taken within the next few days, the Travel & Tourism sector faces an economic meltdown from which it will struggle to recover and plunge millions of people dependent upon it for their livelihoods into debt.
“Not only will this have an enormous negative impact on major businesses in the Travel & Tourism sector around the world, the ‘domino effect’ will also result in massive job losses across the entire supply chain, hitting employees and those in self-employment.
“We call on all those in positions of power to help the powerless and enact policies to support and sustain a sector which is a driving force of the global economy and responsible for generating one in five of all new jobs.”
Germany is set to be the most affected country in Europe, with almost 1.6m jobs at risk, followed by Russia with an estimated 1.1m in job losses. Italy and the UK both follow as the third most impacted, with the countries projected to lose up to one million jobs in the Travel & Tourism sector. Meanwhile the region which has experienced the least damaging impact from the Covid-19 outbreak is the Middle East.
However, it still faces job losses of 1.8m and a GDP loss of up to US$65bn to the regional economy. Travel & Tourism contributes to 10.4% of Global GDP, is directly responsible for generating one in 10 of the world’s jobs, and for eight successive years, has outpaced the growth of the global economy.
