A new research from World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on inbound international travel spend shows that the U.S. economy faces a daily potential loss of nearly $198 million should current border restrictions remain.
The research suggests that based on 2019 levels, of the top 20 most important markets in terms of inbound spending, less than half are currently granted access to the U.S., severely impacting the recovery of the country’s travel and tourism sector. Data is based on the inbound spending to the U.S. by countries that are still closed off to travel as listed by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The country remains closed to many of the largest contributors to the U.S. economy in terms of visitor spending in 2019, before the pandemic struck, including the U.K. (8 percent), Germany (4 percent), France (3 percent) and Italy (2 percent). Figures show that the U.S. economy continues to endure substantial financial hardship due to current inbound travel protocols, with monthly potential losses of more than $1.2 billion, amounting to approximately $283 million per week or $40 million each day, from the U.K. market alone.
The successful rollout of vaccines across the U.K. (66 percent fully vaccinated), Germany (62 percent fully vaccinated), France (62 percent fully vaccinated) and Italy (63 percent fully vaccinated) has led to the loosening of travel restrictions. That said, while some countries have recently imposed further restrictions on non-vaccinated visitors from the U.S., WTTC believes that it is time for the U.S. to open its borders, and give the travel and tourism sector, and its economy, a much-needed boost.
While the U.S. currently holds the position as the largest global travel and tourism market, the country runs the risk of falling in ranking should a clear roadmap on re-engaging with international leisure and business travelers not occur at the start of the fall season. According to WTTC, consistency in domestic travel alone will not achieve full economic recovery for the country.
WTTC’s “2020 Economic Impact Report” found that travel and tourism supported more than 16.5 million jobs (10.5 percent of total U.S. employment) in 2019. With business travel to the U.S. accounting for $358 billion in 2019 (30 percent of total spend), financial growth, according to the report, cannot occur with current mobility to the country cut-off.
As more than half of the 50 states across the U.S. are either approaching an end date or have already ended federally funded unemployment programs, the need for a revitalization of the U.S. business sector seems to be growing.
WTTC research shows the dramatic impact COVID-19 has had on the United States’ travel and tourism sector, with its contribution to the national GDP seeing a decrease from $1.87 trillion in 2019 to $1.1 trillion in 2020. The ability to regain profits lost and remain the top global contributor to travel and tourism is at stake should the U.S. not take drastic strides toward a safe reopening to additional countries around the globe.
In another report, WTTC observed that the travel and tourism sector’s contribution to global GDP fell from nearly $9.2 trillion in 2019, to just $4.7 trillion in 2020, representing a loss of almost $4.5 trillion. Furthermore, as the pandemic ripped through the sector, 62 million travel and tourism jobs were lost while many still remain at risk. The report additionally revealed that capital investment dropped by almost one third (29.7 percent) last year, plummeting from $986 billion in 2019, to just $693 billion in 2020 thus indicating a critical need for investment in the sector.
The paper demonstrated how crucial it was for both destinations and governments to attract investment through an effective enabling environment, including incentives such as smart taxation, travel facilitation policies, diversification, integration of health and hygiene, effective communication, and a skilled and trained workforce.
For more, visit www.wttc.org.
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