Up to 50 million jobs in the global travel and tourism sector are at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic already infecting more than 135,000 people with over 5,000 deaths in 120 countries, a global body says. The “figures show the stark impact on the Travel and Tourism sector of the COVID-19 outbreak,” World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Chief Executive Gloria Guevara said in a statement on Friday.
The global body warned that the COVID-19 outbreak “clearly presents a significant threat to the industry as a whole, to those employed within it, and those wishing to continue travelling.
“Latest figures show that global travel could be adversely impacted by up to 25 per cent in 2020. This is the equivalent to a loss of three months of global travel. This could lead to a corresponding reduction in jobs of between 12 and 14 percent,” said the WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector.
With the cancellation of thousands of international flights globally, countries are restricting cross-border travels to contain the virus outbreak, resulting in spree of cancellations in hotel bookings. The WTTC also called on the governments to take measures to protect the industry.
Removing or simplifying visas whereas possible, reducing costs, relaxing "unnecessary barriers" at ports and airports, reducing travelers' taxes such as Air Passenger Duty and increasing budgets for promoting travel destinations are among the recommendations, the global body put forward.
State of tourism in Bangladesh
Hotel bookings in Cox’s Bazar, one of the top tourist destinations in the country, is too low, our correspondent reports. “Due to the outbreak, panic grips the travelers resulting in cancelation of hotel bookings,” Abdul Haque Hameem, senior manager of Praasad Paradise Hotel and Resorts, which is based on Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar, told Bangladesh Post.
Tour operators echoed the hotel officials.
Chief Executive of Journey Plus Taufiq Rahman told Bangladesh Post, “The number of inbound tourists dropped significantly as flights are canceled globally and thousands of hotel bookings are being withdrawn daily amid travel warnings by the countries due to the outbreak.
“It will cause losses beyond counting,” he lamented.
Rahman, however, said they will sit with officials of the civil aviation and tourism ministry on March 16 to discuss the situations. “We will ask the ministry to take measures to protect the country’s aviation, tourism, and hospitality industry,” he insisted. Bangladesh flights to India suspended
All airliners including Biman Bangladesh Airlines suspended flights to Kolkata, New Delhi since India on Thursday suspended almost all visas for a month in order to halt the spread of Covid-19. All existing Indian visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/International Organizations, employment, project visas, stand suspended till 15th April 2020.
The Biman operates a total of 179 flights to 17 destinations. But the national flag carrier significantly cut its flight frequencies worldwide since the novel coronavirus broke out by late last year. The WTTC, however, warned that as more large-scale events are canceled and the number of flight cancellations on the rise, there are fears the industry could take a bigger hit if the situation does not improve immediately.
