A report by the tourism commission of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) suggests that the coronavirus disease has caused a $4.2 trillion damage to global tourism.
The report said that the global inflow of tourists shrank by 82% in one year from an almost 1.465 billion in 2019 to 407 million in 2020 when the pandemic broke out.
The number of incoming tourists slightly recovered from the pandemic consequences in 2021 but still remained 69% lower than the pre-pandemic figures.
The report attributed the decline in the number of tourists to flight restrictions caused by the global outbreak of the disease.
Following to the ease of COVID restrictions in 2022, the global inflow of tourists doubled that of the preceding year while it still posted a 24% fall compared to that of 2019, the report added.
It further said that the tourism sector accounted for 4% of the global GDP in 2019 whereas this share decreased to 2% during the first two years of pandemic (2020 and 2021) and improved to 2.5% in 2022.