The sluggish Corona vaccination campaigns in many countries are thwarting a rapid tourism recovery in many regions.
Poorer countries are particularly affected, as the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) and the UN Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported in Geneva.
According to the report, last year, direct and indirect consequences of the tourism slump reduced gross domestic product - the production of goods and services after deducting all intermediate inputs - by an estimated $2.4 trillion worldwide.
According to UNWTO figures, there were about one billion fewer tourists traveling internationally than the year before, a slump of 73%. Compared to 2019, a shortfall of 1.7 to 2.4 trillion dollars is also feared this year - especially if the vaccination pace in low-income countries does not pick up quickly.
Accordingly, these countries suffered the most, while tourism recovery was faster in rich countries with high vaccination rates - such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.
However, according to the organizations, international tourism is likely to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 at the earliest. Many countries have not yet lifted their travel restrictions.
The World Health Organization (WHO) speaks of vaccination nationalism in rich countries and moral failure. Some governments had bought up a large part of the scarce vaccine instead of joining a solidary distribution all over the world.
While in some places young healthy people are already vaccinated, in other countries nurses risk their lives daily in caring for Corona patients without being vaccinated themselves.