(CNN) – While popular destinations are slowly reopening and tourism is starting to increase in places, the impact of the pandemic on the industry has been devastating.
Many countries that rely heavily on tourism revenue lost one of their main sources of wealth almost overnight in March, but which ones are hit hardest?
Mexico is at the top of Statista’s list, closely followed by Spain and Italy.
Already among the countries with the highest death rate from coronavirus, European destinations are also likely to be among the hardest hit by declining tourism due to their dependence on visitor income, which contributed 14.3% to Spain’s GDP last year and 13% to that of Italy, according to WTTC.
After issuing one of the strictest locks in Europe, at one point, adults were only allowed to leave their home to buy food, medicine or take their dog for a walk, Spain has been eager to revive its tourism industry in difficulties, reopening its borders in the last month to all EU countries and approved third countries.
Tourism dependency
In 2019, tourism represented around 13% of Italy’s GDP.
MARCO SABADIN / AFP / Getty Images
Meanwhile, Italy reopened to EU travelers, along with the United Kingdom and the microstates and principalities of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican, in a move that the government described as “calculated risk”.
However, coronavirus cases here have increased significantly in Spain since the restrictions were lifted, and some sections were issued with a second block.
Italy has also seen a slight increase in cases since the restrictions were eased, indicating that the recovery process is likely to be slow with possible stops and starts.
The impact on the US, the world’s largest economy, has been less significant, as tourism only accounts for 8.6% of its GDP, which is based on various contributions, including revenue from hotels, agencies travel, airlines and restaurants.
However, WTTC indicates that the total contribution from travel and tourism represents around 16.8 million jobs.
France is just below the US on the list, with tourism accounting for 8.5% of its GDP in 2019, followed by Brazil with 7.7%.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the decline in tourism is likely to have few financial ramifications for South Korea, as the tourism sector only accounted for 4.2% of its GDP last year.
“I’m not sure [the travel sector] will always be identical to how it was [pre-Covid 19]”says Lori Pennington-Gray, professor and director of the University of Florida Tourism Crisis Management Initiative, told CNN Travel earlier this month.
“In terms of operating at full capacity and with the same volumes, it can take years to get there. But we know from previous crises that the travel industry is very resilient.”
“The travel industry will recover, it just isn’t going to happen tomorrow.”
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