Tourism suffered its deepest crisis in recorded history during the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2020 to 2022.

International tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) plunged from 1,465 million in 2019 to 407 million in 2020, a 72% drop in just one year, impacted by global lockdowns, widespread travel restrictions and the slump in visitor demand.

In 2021 arrivals increased slightly but remained 69% below 2019 levels as the world continued to fight the pandemic and most restrictions continued in place. Meanwhile, domestic tourism rebounded moderately in many markets.

The year 2022 saw a partial recovery in international travel fuelled by strong pent-up demand and the easing of restrictions, with arrivals more than doubling compared to 2021 but remaining 34% below 2019 levels.

Overall, the pandemic generated a loss of 2.6 billion international arrivals in 2020, 2021 and 2022 combined, almost twice the arrivals recorded in 2019.

Export revenues from international tourism dropped 62% in 2020 and 59% in 2021, versus 2019 (real terms) and then rebounded in 2022, remaining 34% below pre-pandemic levels.

The total loss in export revenues from tourism amounts to a USD 2.6 trillion for that three-year period. This is one and a half times the revenues earned in 2019.

The economic contribution of tourism, measured in tourism direct gross domestic product (TDGDP) was cut by half due to the pandemic, from 4% of global GDP in 2019 to 2% in 2020 and 2021. It then grew to 2.5% in 2022 according to preliminary estimates. The resulting aggregate loss for the three years amounted to USD 4.2 trillion.