World Tourism Day: Opportunity to reconsider future of global tourism

Published on : Monday, September 27, 2021

Tourism is one of the world’s most important economic sectors employing every one in every ten people on Earth. The sector provides livelihoods to hundreds of millions more. World Tourism Day is celebrated globally every year on September 27^th since 1980.

The travel and tourism industry is one of the worst-hit sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even though the tourist footfall has increased from what it was at the peak of the pandemic, experts say it will take a long time to bounce back to the pre-pandemic levels.

International tourism is another grey area that has hit its lowest and is yet to witness a major rise. On the global scale, tourist footfall has dropped to nearly 85%.

According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the tourism sector touches almost every part of the global economy and society. The tourism sector is broadly classified into business, consumer, MICE, leisure, wedding and others.

World Tourism Day is celebrated with the aim of creating awareness among the globetrotters and common people regarding its roles on socio-political, cultural and economic values worldwide.

The theme of this year’s World Tourism Day highlights the contribution of people from various sectors in the uplifting of the industry.

With the pandemic stepping into the second year and the new COVID-19 variant emerging, there has been continuous lockdown.

It weighed heavily on global travel which, in turn, affected the economy of the developed and developing countries.

On World Tourism Day, the pandemic offers an opportunity to reconsider the future of global tourism.