In a bid to provide the required support for tourism recovery from COVID19 pandemic, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and some key stakeholders in the industry have launched a new Tourism Recovery Tracker.
This was announced on the back of the 112th Session of the UNWTO Executive Council, which met in person and virtually in Tbilisi, Georgia, to work together to guide the sustainable and responsible recovery of tourism from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tracker which is a result of a partnership between international organizations and the private sector including the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), ForwardKeys, STR, Sojern, and AIRDNA covers key tourism performance indicators by month, regions, and sub-regions allowing for a real-time comparison of the sector recovery across the world and industries.
The UNWTO Tourism Recovery Tracker compiles all the relevant data in one place, giving governments and the private businesses the ability to track the recovery of tourism at the global and regional level, alongside information on the top destinations for international tourism. The tracker includes data on international tourist arrivals, seat capacity in international and domestic air routes, air travel bookings, hotel searches and bookings, occupancy rates and demand for short-term rentals, and so on.
It would be recalled that the UNWTO latest World Tourism Barometer, the massive drop in international travel demand over the period January-June 2020 translates into a loss of 440 million international arrivals and about US$ 460 billion in export revenues from international tourism. This is around five times the loss in international tourism receipts recorded in 2009 amid the global economic and financial crisis.
As a result, it had become imperative to launch a tracker to support global tourism recovery as growing numbers of countries around the world ease restrictions on travel. This tracker represents the latest concrete action undertaken by the United Nations specialized tourism agency as it leads the response of global tourism and guides recovery.
