'COVID-19 Direct Hit' Tourism Market Losses of 540 Trillion Won... 5 Times the Financial Crisis

UN World Tourism Organization Estimates Global Tourists in First Half of This Year Down 65% Compared to Last Year

Citizens visiting the observation deck of Incheon International Airport are watching the aircraft stopped at the airport. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The global tourism market has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in an estimated economic loss approaching 540 trillion won in the tourism sector alone during the first half of this year. This amount is five times the economic loss recorded during the global financial crisis.

According to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute and related industries on the 21st, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) recently reported that the number of global tourists in the first half of this year decreased by 65% compared to the same period last year. This corresponds to a reduction of 438.927 million people. The resulting economic loss was diagnosed to be 460 billion dollars (approximately 535 trillion won).

The UNWTO analyzed, "The economic loss due to the decrease in tourists is about five times the economic loss recorded during the global financial crisis in 2009."

Looking at the decline in travelers by region in the first half of the year, the Asia-Pacific region saw the highest decrease rate with a 72% drop compared to the same period last year. This was followed by Europe at 66%, Africa at 57%, the Middle East at 57%, and the Americas at 55%.

Within the Asia-Pacific region, the Northeast Asia area, which includes South Korea, experienced a much higher tourist decrease rate of 83%. Among Northeast Asian countries, Hong Kong had the highest decrease rate at 91%, followed by China at 84%, Macao at 84%, Mongolia at 80%, Taiwan at 79%, Japan at 76%, and South Korea at 75%.

Economic Loss of 460 Billion Dollars... South Korea Also Estimated to Suffer About 6 Trillion Won in Damage
Even with Vaccines and Treatments, It May Take Up to 4 Years for Tourist Numbers to Return to Normal Levels

According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the damage to South Korea's tourism sector due to COVID-19 was estimated at 5.9 trillion won as of July. Among this, losses in the travel industry caused by cancellations and disruptions of overseas travel alone were estimated at 3.0463 trillion won.

The UNWTO forecasts that even with the availability of COVID-19 vaccines or treatments, it will take between two and a half to up to four years for global tourist numbers to recover to last year's levels.

This recovery pace is slower compared to past epidemics such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015.

According to a research report by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, during the SARS outbreak, international tourists in the Asia-Pacific region, including South Korea, decreased by nearly half compared to the same period the previous year in April and May of that year, but the early end of the epidemic led to a recovery trend within seven months. During the MERS outbreak, tourist numbers sharply declined by -41.0% in June, -53.5% in July, and -26.5% in August of that year, but by October, they had recovered to 5.0% compared to the same period the previous year.

The UNWTO estimates that the number of global tourists this year will decrease from 850 million to a maximum of 1.1 billion. The resulting economic loss is expected to range from 910 billion dollars (approximately 1,060 trillion won) to a maximum of 1.2 trillion dollars (approximately 1,400 trillion won).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.