VI among island nations expected to be hardest hit by global pandemic
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WT&TC), the representative body for the global travel and tourism industry, the Virgin Islands is among the island nations that rely on tourist dollars expected to be the hardest hit as government restrictions designed to curb the coronavirus pandemic keep billions of people at home, bringing international travel and tourism to a standstill.
The other Caribbean island nations facing a "catastrophe", according to WT&TC, include Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda and St Lucia.
The shutdown is affecting everything from small businesses to large companies, including major airlines and cruise lines, some of whom have had to shed jobs and seek government bailouts in order to survive.
Travel and tourism accounts for some 10% of global GDP and one in 10 jobs, according to the WT&TC, as many as a third of these jobs, or more than 100 million positions, and some $2.7 trillion in GDP could be at risk as a result of the current crisis.
Meanwhile, CNN reported on May 13, 2020, that, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, countries that rely most heavily on tourist dollars will be hardest hit. A 25% decline in tourism income will knock on average 7% off GDP among "small island developing states," a contraction that could go as deep as 16% in places such as the Maldives and Seychelles.
The situation, according to CNN, is also dire in Europe, which boasts half the world's international tourist arrivals. “The European Parliament estimates that the bloc's tourism industry is losing around €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in revenue per month, a devastating blow to the 27 million EU workers whose jobs are connected to the sector.”
Kickstarting tourism, while crucial for the global economy, will be especially complex. Reopening businesses and restarting factories is proving hard enough, but the return of travel will require an easing of border controls, international cooperation and, most crucially, travellers themselves.
Safe travel guidelines
Meanwhile, the World Travel and Tourism Council has unveiled its list of protocols, dubbed the ‘Safe Travel protocols’, to help restart the hospitality industry and ready it for future crises.
Key measures include:
• Revisit guidance for cleaning teams for all areas of the hotel with a specific focus on high-frequency touch points, such as room key cards
• Ensure social distancing for guests through signage and guidelines including lifts
• Retrain staff in infection control, social distancing and enhanced hygiene measures, including hand washing and the use of masks and gloves
• All extraneous items should be removed throughout the hotel
• Integrate technologies to enable automation, such as introducing contactless payments where possible
• Offer room service using no-contact delivery methods
• Have clear, consistent and enhanced communication with customers on new health and hygiene safety protocols, both digitally and physically at hotels
• Safe reopening of F&B outlets and meeting and events spaces with specific actions to ensure social distancing, disinfection and food safety
Measures have been drafted with health and safety at the forefront while also leveraging guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make informed decisions.
According to the latest figures from WTTC, the travel and tourism sector is responsible for one in 10 jobs – 330 million total, making it a 10.3% contribution to the world’s GDP. Right now, 100 million of these jobs are at risk.
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22 Responses to “VI among island nations expected to be hardest hit by global pandemic”
For those that travel or must travel, limit the number of times have to travel and consolidate all travel-related activities around a single time period - if have to go overseas for business and healthcare why not do in a single trip.
The contraction of the tourism industry has knock on effects elsewhere in both the private and public sectors. Consumer spending keeps an economy going. If one does not have money to spend then ....
I can see it now!
The VI* has no plans
Like with the police or certain locals with behaviour problems taking them out on foreigners. After all
the BVI now depends mostly on tourism and outsiders money. We can't be letting them know what goes
on that doesn't make it into the big news media. RIGHT?