The World Tourism Organization, WTO, says the tourism sector is still recovering after two years of pandemic, but the spreading war in Ukraine may make the scenario more complicated.

The UN agency notes that the January 2022 results show a significant improvement over the same period last year.

The agency points out that Russia and Ukraine accounted for a combined 3% of global international tourism spending in 2020 and at least $14 billion in global tourism revenue could be lost if the war continues.

The entity stresses that the conflict in Ukraine adds to the pressure of existing economic uncertainties, in addition to the continuation of many Covid-19-related travel restrictions that still prevail in some countries.

For the WTO, the current scenario may affect general confidence and hinder the recovery of tourism by bringing new challenges to the global economic environment. The return of confidence in global travel is also at risk.

The closure of Ukrainian and Russian airspace, as well as the banning of Russian carriers by many European countries, has affected travel on the continent.

The WTO says the conflict is also causing detour on long-haul flights between Europe and East Asia, which increases flight times and costs.

The growth of 130% represents18 million more visitors registered worldwide in the first month of this year. The January result already exceeds the total increase observed in 2021.

While these figures confirm the positive trend underway last year, the pace of recovery in January suffered from the Ômicron variant and the return of travel restrictions in several destinations.

After the decline of 71% in 2021, international arrivals in January 2022 remained 67% below pre-pandemic levels.

The OMT data shows that all regions had a significant recovery in January 2022, but Europe and the Americas continue to be the best performers.

Europe has almost tripled the number of international arrivals while in the Americas the number of tourists has doubled. However, the results are still half the pre-pandemic levels.

The Middle East and Africa also started the year with growth compared to 2021, but continue to record a decline of more than 60% compared to 2019.

Although the Asia Pacific region saw a 44% increase in international arrivals over the previous year, several destinations remain closed for non-essential travel, resulting in the largest drop in international arrivals over 2019.

After the unprecedented decline in 2020 and 2021, the WTO expects international tourism to continue its gradual recovery in 2022.

Source: UN New