New Delhi (NVI): Before the Covid-19 pandemic, France was the world’s most visited country, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Although some countries are considering easing coronavirus lockdowns to reopen their borders, international tourist numbers could fall by up to 80% in 2020, says the World Tourism Organization.
With lockdowns beginning to ease, many countries are starting to think about how to restart an engine vital to their economies: tourism, reports World Economic Forum.
The European Union is exploring how it can safely open its internal borders to welcome summer visitors. While Australians may be allowed to travel to New Zealand from July, some Caribbean islands, like Saint Lucia, will begin to reopen in June, according to WFP.
However, in a normal year, these are the most visited destinations:
The most recent figures from the UNWTO show that France is the world’s number one destination for international tourists, Almost 90 million people visited the country in 2018.
Spain isn’t far behind, with over 82 million visitors. The United States, China and Italy complete the top five.
According to UNWTO, these countries are also among the hardest-hit by COVID-19, with the US, Italy, France and Spain (along with the United Kingdom and Brazil) to date recording the world’s highest number of confirmed coronavirus deaths.
The tourism industry accounts for 10% of GDP and jobs, globally.
Countries reliant on travel and tourism have seen “particularly large” disruptions, according to the International Monetary Fund, as lockdowns caused havoc in these economies, as they have in many others around the globe.
Of the top five most visited nations, Spain in particular will be feeling the heat in this respect – international tourists spend about $81 billion in the country annually. That’s over 16% of its total exports, while the same figure is under 10% for France and Italy.
However, those numbers pale in comparison to Saint Lucia, though, where international tourism receipts make up more than 81% of total exports.
