New Surveys are not as new and fresh as we want these days, rising cases of COVID-19 have managed to dim the light that these surveys and reports are trying to shed. One of the worst damages caused by the pandemic is how traveling has been suspended and this had a direct impact on million jobs related to the tourism industry.
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) exposed data that by the end of the year an estimated 174 million jobs in the industry could be lost due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Subsequently, travel restrictions were a double-edged razor. It did save the pandemic from spreading fast but it also made many people jobless.
The data suggested that easing current travel restrictions could save as many as 31 million jobs by the end of 2020. This is a promising perspective but in practice, very hard to be managed and requires much cooperation.
As the WTTC President Gloria Guevara mentions, their latest data reveals the gravity of the long-term negative impact facing the global Travel & Tourism sector and when they don’t work together to resume international travel immediately, there would be a direct threat to any job related to the business.
Guevara continues with how travel restrictions around the world remained in place over the summer months and how their estimated report shows an increase from 121 million to 143 million jobs lost.
Given the fact that WTTC just presented the 100 Million Jobs Recovery Plan a week ago to save the travel industry from the impact of COVID-19, this new survey report darkens everything, However, the plan did cover a range of key initiatives that could hinge on securing strong international coordination to re-establish effective operations and restart travel.
It is a crisis indeed, just like how we have to stay still in a fogy storm, coming out of these uncertain times require the same waiting and being patient. Then after surviving, we shall pick up the pieces and do damage control.