\n
\n<\/p>\n
The
\ntourism industry accounts for 10% of employment worldwide and 12% of jobs in
\nthe European Union and in order to recover, it needs coordinated international support
\nestimated at some 375 billion euros. The whole industry has been badly hit by
\nthe travel restrictions and social distancing measures imposed by governments
\naround the world to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The crisis has
\nhit everyone working in tourism, from small businesses to big hotel chains and
\ntravel agencies. The entire tourism industry may shrink by as much as 80% this year
\ncompared with last year according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. The
\nsituation is much worse than during the economic crisis of 2009, when the
\nindustry shrank by only 4%. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Europe
\nhas a very active tourist ecosystem. Trips, transport, accommodation, food,
\nleisure and culture account for almost 10% of the European Union’s GDP and
\nprovides a significant source of employment and income in many regions. 267
\nmillion Europeans – representing 62% of Europe’s population – make at least one
\nprivate leisure trip a year and 78% of Europeans spend their holidays in their
\ncountries of origin or other EU country, according to the European Commission
\nfigures. Summer is a crucial season for the tourism industry, generating an
\naverage income of 150 billion euros in Europe and 360 million arrivals. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Little
\nsurprise then that the sector is a priority for the European Union, which has
\ncome up with a set of guidelines and recommendations as part of a tourism and
\ntravel package that lays down a global strategy for recovery in 2020 and
\nbeyond, a joint approach to restore freedom of movement and eliminate
\nrestrictions on EU’s internal borders in a gradual and coordinated way. The
\npackage also lays down the framework for the gradual re-establishment of
\ntransport while ensuring the safety of passengers and personnel and a
\nrecommendation to make travel vouchers an alternative to cash reimbursement.
\nThe European Commission also plans to support tourist businesses in several ways,
\nby ensuring liquidity, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises,
\nand saving jobs with up to 100 billion euros in financial relief through the
\nSURE programme. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Transport
\nis a key element of tourism. The European Commissioner for Transport Adina
\nValean, who was Romania’s pick for this post, told Radio Romania that it is not
\nyet possible to set a clear date for the normal or gradual reopening of
\ntransport because it is not known yet how the pandemic will develop. She said,
\nhowever, that the rules adopted by the European Union lay down the conditions
\nof travel:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
People
\noften ask me: ‘when will we be able to travel again?’ The answer to this
\nquestion must be given by the authorities of each individual member state and
\nmust take into account a series of criteria relating to the epidemiological
\nsituation in that country, criteria highlighted by my colleagues from the field
\nof healthcare. Secondly, we have to decide what are the destinations we
\ngreenlight for transport, because, of course, we’re not expecting the situation
\nto be the same everywhere in Europe, for borders to reopen and quarantine and
\nisolation measures to be the same in all member states. These are decisions to
\nbe taken by the national governments.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
What
\nwe do know is that reopening travel will be done in a flexible and coordinated
\nway and in several stages. As far as tourism is concerned, there are, however,
\nsome clear conditions that have to be met in order to ease restrictions in a
\ngiven region or member state, namely that the number of new infections
\ndecreases and remains low and that states ensure access to their healthcare
\nsystems to tourists. In Romania, tourism has lost 6 million overnights in
\nrecent months and some 250 million euros in revenues, according to the
\npresident of the Hotel Industry Federation, Calin Ilie. He says that the
\nsituation of the tourist sector is very complicated and compared the industry
\nwith a train running at high speed and hitting a wall. The situation is
\ndramatic, he says and estimates the total impact of the tourism crisis on
\nRomania’s GDP at more than 5%. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
90%
\nof hotels in Romania were closed because of the pandemic and 150,000 employees
\nout of the 180,000 working in the hospitality industry have been furloughed or
\nlaid off, says Razvan Pascu, the founder of a tourist business. In his opinion,
\nthe current situation may also be an opportunity for Romanian tourism:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It’s
\nclear that tourists’ behaviour will change. Most probably, they will no longer
\nprefer big, all-inclusive type hotels with a thousand people crowding in to get
\ntheir breakfast and will chose instead other types of holidays. I think road
\ntrips will come back in fashion and that we’ll see more nature trips, people will
\nchange their behaviour somehow. It may be an opportunity to promote Romania as
\na different type of destination, a different type of travel with less mass
\ntourism, and I think Romania’s strategy should focus on this in the next two or
\nthree years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nresults of recent surveys show that people will give up holidaying abroad this
\nyear and choose proximity tourism instead. (CM)<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The tourism industry has been badly hit by the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":156346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43939],"tags":[35339,29229],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-156345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-future-starts-today","tag-coronavirus","tag-tourism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n