Report Interpretation (II): Landscape Changes in the Tourism Economy for T20 Countries

On March 1st, 2021, the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) released the Report on World Tourism Economy Trends (2021) in Beijing (hereinafter referred to as the Report).

According to the Report, the T20 countries have, while imposing disease prevention and control measures, made great efforts to promote the recovery of the tourism industry. In late May, these countries will publish various policies and initiatives as well as take diverse measures to stimulate the reinvigoration and development of tourism. In general, the efforts have included specific tourism measures, special recovery plans, financial support, fiscal and monetary policies, and support for employment.

In 2020, the global pandemic led to a decline in the proportion of both domestic and international tourism revenue in T20 countries to the global total. The proportion of domestic tourism decreased to 74.7% by 4.8 percentage points comparing with the previous year. The figure is expected to continue to fall to 72.3% in 2021. In 2020, the proportion of international tourism accounted for 53.2% of the total in the world, down by 8.7 percentage points comparing with the previous year. The figure is estimated to rebound to 59.4% in 2021, up by 6.2 percentage points comparing with 2020.

On the whole, the total tourism revenue in T20 countries was affected to varying degrees in 2020. However, the Report showed that 2021 will witness the tourism economy of half of such countries return to more than 80% of the pre-pandemic level. Based on the decline in the total tourism revenue in 2020 and the recovery to the 2019 level in 2021, there are 4 groups of countries:

① 10 countries that registered a decline by less than 50% in total tourism revenue and will show a recovery to over 80% of the 2019 level: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, France, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, China and Mexico;② 2 countries that registered a decline by over 50% in total tourism revenue and will show a recovery to more than 80% of the 2019 level: Spain and Japan; ③ 6 countries that registered a decline by over 50% in total tourism revenue and will show a recovery to less than 80% of the 2019 level: the United States, Brazil, India, South Korea, Russia and Thailand; ④ 2 countries that registered a decline by less than 50% in the total tourism revenue and will show a recovery to less than 80% of the 2019 level: Australia and the Philippines.