(Finance and Economics) Under the haze, the international tourism industry is "loaded" this year
China News Agency, Beijing, March 30 (Reporter Liu Liang) Since the global new crown epidemic, the international tourism industry has been widely affected.
At the beginning of this year, although the recovery momentum of the international tourism industry has improved, with the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and many travel restrictions related to the epidemic still being implemented, the overall recovery environment of the international tourism industry is still facing multiple pressures.
According to data disclosed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization this month, the international tourism industry continued to show a good recovery in January this year, sweeping away the weak trend in the same period last year.
Figures show that global international arrivals more than doubled in January from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the number of international arrivals worldwide rose by 18 million in January, equivalent to the total increase for the whole of last year.
While these figures confirm the positive trends already seen in the past year, the pace of recovery in international tourism in January has been hampered by the spread of the Omicron variant and the reimposition of travel restrictions in several regions. It is still more than 60 percent below pre-pandemic levels.
From a regional perspective, international tourism in almost all regions showed a clear recovery in January. Among them, Europe and the Americas performed the strongest, with international arrivals nearly doubling and nearly doubling year-on-year, respectively.
But compared with pre-pandemic levels, international arrivals in both regions are still about half their pre-pandemic levels.
The Middle East and Africa region also saw a more than 50% year-on-year increase in international arrivals in January, but compared to 2019, the two regions fell by 63% and 69%, respectively.
The Asia-Pacific region grew 44% year-on-year in January, but the region's recovery is still far from 2019 as some destinations still restrict non-essential travel.
Looking forward to the recovery of international tourism this year, the World Tourism Organization emphasized that this year, as more and more cities are easing or lifting travel restrictions, this will help release pent-up travel demand and help international tourism gradually recover.
But at the same time, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has brought new challenges to the global economic environment and has also affected the recovery of confidence in the international tourism industry.
The World Tourism Organization noted that the closure of Russian and Ukrainian airspace, as well as bans on Russian airlines in many European countries, are affecting travel within Europe.
At the same time, long-haul flights between Europe and East Asia had to take detours, increasing the time and cost of flying.
According to statistics, in 2020, Russia and Ukraine together accounted for 3% of the world's international tourism spending.
The World Tourism Organization believes that at least $14 billion in global tourism revenue could be lost if the conflict continues.
At the same time, the situation in Russia and Ukraine will further put pressure on the already severe economic situation, weaken consumer confidence and increase investment uncertainty.
From the perspective of the global macroeconomic environment, the road to recovery of the international tourism industry is also full of challenges, which will be accompanied by slowing economic growth and high inflation.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, global economic growth is expected to slow this year and may be more than 1% lower than previously expected, while inflation, already high at the start of the year, may be at least 2.5% higher.
The World Tourism Organization also pointed out that the recent surge in international oil prices and rising inflation have made accommodation and transport services more expensive, putting additional pressure on the purchasing power and savings of businesses and consumers.
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