Global Tourism shrinks due to the Wuhan Corona Virus Crisis.

Long time to recovery 

WuhanCorona Virus originated in China and then spread across all over the world bringing the world to a lockdown. 

While the lockdowns have eased but travel - especially by foreign tourists have come to a grinding halt.  And there hasn't been any significant recovery.  

It's not likely to be in the near future.  A vaccine can bring back hopes of travellers to roam freely but - travelling to distant countries to explore the "unknown" - many may not opt for.

Impact on Countries 

This precipitous drop in tourism will have an outsized impact on countries that rely on foreign travellers—with potentially large-scale effects on their economies’ national accounts. 

According to IMF's recently released "2020 External Sector Report" 

• Costa Rica, 
• Greece 
• Morocco
• Portugal; and 
• Thailand 

could be the hardest hit countries with losses in tourism proceeds exceeding 3 percent of GDP. 

Impact on India 

India's foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) stood at 10.9 million in 2019.  Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi accounted for 60% of all Foreign Tourist Arrivals in 2019. 

However with travel restrictions in India for over 80 countries the Foreign Tourist Arrivals are likely to decline significantly in 2020. 

Till then alternatives ,for this sector to revive, needs to be thought through. Govt. incentives and support may help. 

The other way is to focus on business travel and that what most hotel chains - especially in the metros - seem to be doing. 

For the small and medium enterprise business - its still a lot of time - when the good times return.