The coronavirus epidemic is putting up to 50 million jobs in the global travel and tourism sector at risk, with international travel likely to slump by a quarter this year, the World Travel and Tourism Council projected on Friday.
The coronavirus outbreak “clearly presents a significant threat to the industry as a whole, to those employed within it, and those wishing to continue traveling,” it said in a statement, reports Reuters.
The equivalent to a loss of three months of global travel in 2020 “could lead to a corresponding reduction in jobs of between 12 per cent and 14 per cent”, it said in a statement, also calling on governments to remove or simplify visas wherever possible, cut travel taxes and introduce incentives once the epidemic is under control.
The tourism industry accounts for 10 per cent of the world’s GDP and jobs.
