A new tourism report by Compare the Market indicates Honk Kong’s tourism industry suffered more than any other country during the pandemic, with a 75 per cent drop in domestic and international travel between 2019 and 2020.
Of the 45 countries analysed, Brazil was the least affected with an industry decrease of 28.6 per cent.
Global tourism has been crippled by the pandemic with border closures, quarantine rules and the threat of COVID-19 deterring would-be travellers the world over. New research by Compare the Market reveals which countries fared the worst and which ones got away without passports and international demand.
Hong Kong was the most affected with a 75 per cent decline in their tourism industry from 2019 to 2020. In 2019, tourism and travel contributed US $45 billion to the country, which represented 12 per cent of the GDP. This reduced to just 3 per cent in 2020.
Ireland came off second worst with a 71.4 per cent decline in tourism year-on-year, while Fiji rounded out the top three with a decrease of 65.9 per cent in domestic and international travel.
Of the 45 countries observed, 23 saw their travel industry’s contribution to the national GDP cut in half in a single year, if not more.
Most island nations analysed (Fiji, the Bahamas, Maldives and the Philippines), which still experienced great drops in tourism, managed to keep their industry contributions (to the national GDP) above 10 per cent.
The only mainland country that was able to replicate this feat was Croatia, who managed to maintain their tourism industry at 10.2 per cent of the GDP in 2020 (down from 24.3 per cent the previous year).
On the other end of the scale, Brazil’s tourism industry was the least affected, only suffering a 28.6 per cent decline by going from 7.7 per cent in 2019 to 5.5 per cent in 2020.
India came out second-best with total decline of 31.9 per cent year-on-year, while Chile’s tourism industry went from being worth 9.9 per cent of the national GDP in 2019 to 6.6 per cent in 2020 (a decline of 33.3 per cent).
New Zealand, the United States and Australia were among those that were able to minimise the damage of the pandemic and keep the decline below 50 per cent.
The results for these three countries are particularly surprising, given they were some of the first to implement restrictions on global air travel by early February 2020.
