Virus hits millions of Spring travellers around the world

United Nations World Tourism Organisation says international arrivals fell 74 per cent last year, wiping out $1.3 trillion in revenue and putting up to 120 million jobs at risk

They are the annual journeys of late winter and early spring: Factory workers in China heading home for the Lunar New Year; American college students going on road trips and hitting the beach over spring break; Germans and Britons fleeing drab skies for some Mediterranean sun over Easter.

All of it cancelled, in doubt or under pressure because of the coronavirus.

Amid fears of new variants of the virus, new restrictions on movement have hit just as people start to look ahead to what is usually a busy time of year for travel.

It means more pain for airlines, hotels, restaurants and tourist destinations that were already struggling more than a year into the pandemic, and a slower recovery for countries where tourism is a big chunk of the economy.

Colleges around the US have been canceling spring break to discourage students from travelling. After Indiana University in Bloomington replaced its usual break with three “wellness days,” student Jacki Sylvester abandoned plans to celebrate her 21st birthday in Las Vegas. Instead, she will mark the milestone closer to home, with a day at the casino in French Lick, Indiana, just 80 kilometres away.