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40% of All Destinations in the World Have Eased Their Travel Restrictions
UNWTO has recently published very interesting statistics. It turns out that more than one-third (40%) of all tourist destinations in the world have already eased travel restrictions imposed because of COVID-19. The organization’s travel agency made this statement based on the statistics recorded on July 19. The results show significant changes made in just one month. In the previous report based on the information collected on June 15, only 22% of destinations lifted or eased their travel restrictions. This was still a huge change compared to May 15 and the 3% result.
The news confirms that tourism tries to restart and adapt to changes despite all difficulties. At the moment, only four destinations in the world have completely lifted all restrictions for travelers. 83 destinations have eased their restrictions but still keep their borders partially closed. However, more than half of all destinations (53% or 115 destinations around the world) remain completely closed for tourists.
As tourism supports so many businesses, communities, and families around the world, it is crucially important to cooperate internationally and adapt together to the new normal. As expected, countries that highly depend on tourism are the first ones to open their borders. If we look at the list of the 87 destinations that have completely lifted or eased their travel restrictions, we will notice that 20 of them are SIDS or Small Island Developing Countries. For these countries, tourism is often the main provider of jobs for local people and the main contributor to the budget. Approximately one-half of the destinations with eased restrictions are located in Europe.
Still, the lockdown continues for a big part of the world. The impact of the pandemic on tourism is drastic. UNWTO published the estimated losses of the industry by the end of May – US$320 billion in lost revenues. This sum is already three times bigger than the consequences of the Global Economic Crisis in 2009.
There is good news for fans of long-haul traveling. For example, hotels in Bali resume their work soon. One of the most famous island destinations in the world reopens for foreign guests on September 11. Bali hotels and other local businesses already opened for domestic tourists on July 9. International visitors are already welcome to make bookings but they will need to provide a negative COVID-19 test result made less than two weeks ago to be able to enter the country.
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