CHECKING — IN —

The region’s biggest travel and tourism event, Arabian Travel Market, held a successful in-person and virtual edition last month in Dubai. And the big question predictably was – has the industry started to recover? Are travellers stepping back on airplanes and ready to explore new destinations as the industry adapts to the Covid crisis? Aarti Nagraj has more details

- Aarti Nagraj 

It was a different experience attending the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) exhibition at Dubai World Centre this year.

The absence of snaking queues at the entrance, the lack of ceaseless chatter in the main hallways as masked-up attendees consciously avoided bumping against each other, the now-ubiquitous sanitiser dispenser at every booth, glass partitions separating tiny meeting tables – all reminders that we firmly remain in the midst of a global pandemic. And yet there were also plenty of recaps of past exhibitions – whether it was looking at a spectacular display of the mega projects emerging in Saudi Arabia, country pavilions with culturally adorned hosts showcasing local delicacies, or the new premium economy seats that Emirates displayed at its stall – all of which served as beacons of hope that we are slowly but surely recovering from the crisis.

The global travel and tourism sector suffered a loss of almost $4.5 trillion from 2019 to reach $4.7 trillion in 2020, with its contribution to GDP dropping by a staggering 49.1 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest data released by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The sector contributed 5.5 per cent to global GDP in 2020 due to ongoing restrictions to mobility, down from 10.4 per cent in 2019.

Meanwhile, due to the impact of the Covid crisis, 62 million jobs were lost in the sector last year, with 272 million employed across the sector globally – down from 334 million in 2019. Domestic visitor spending decreased by 45 per cent, while international visitor spending declined by an unprecedented 69.4 per cent, the WTTC report said.