COVID-19: Impact on global tourism economy

The pandemic of COVID-19, first of its scale in the last decades, has negatively impacted all domains of human life, and global tourism as well. Tourism-dependent areas have been greatly affected on an economical level. These are some typical examples.

Cambodia, Asia

Cambodia's foreign arrivals in March 2020 fell by 65% year-on-year. Angkor Wat, for example, that usually gets plenty of thousands of tourists per was almost deserted with just an average of about twenty-two (22) tickets sold per day (during April 2020). The country has forbidden entry of visitors from six countries (the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Iran) and put restrictions on the entry of foreigners from any other countries in order to make COVID-19 step back. The national tourism-related income which was about 4.92 billion USD has been dreadfully lowered. It has decreased down to 65 percent compared to the preceding years. More than six hundred (600) hotels have been closed and about 10,000 tourism sector workers stayed at home throughout the country.

Hawaii

In Hawaii, tourism has been totally interrupted. Tourists’ arrival in Hawaii has dropped to almost no visitors in April 2020 and the lockdown dealt the finishing blow. Outlaw tourists were arrested. The quarantine lasted till June 16 when only the people of the island were allowed to enjoy the Hawaiian tourism. For a touristic dream-spot such as Hawaii, this has surely been rough.

Bulgaria

Because of the disaster of the coronavirus, Bulgaria has closed its borders to foreigners and foreign arrivals fell by 44% year-on-year. Only travelers from Greece and Serbia for reasons of business, family ties, diplomacy, humanitarian and travel workers were allowed in the country without undergoing the 14-day quarantine.

It's obvious that all these restrictions and bans on tourism have had a serious impact on the global tourist economy.