Why COVID-19 will pose lasting challenges to Middle East and North Africa tourism sector

Why COVID-19 will pose lasting challenges to Middle East and North Africa tourism sector

The pandemic has hit tourism in these countries so hard that there has been a deep contraction in the contribution of the sector to these economies. Before the crisis hit, tourism contributed directly and indirectly to more than 15 per cent of GDP and 35 per cent of foreign exchange earnings in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. Data from the IIF show, n average, tourist receipts fell by 75 per cent in 2020 compared with 2019. The IIF sees bleak outlook for tourism in the region. "We expect the five tourism-dependent MENA economies to suffer much longer than the six GCC countries from the negative impacts of the pandemic," said Garbis Iradian, Chief Economist Mena, IIF. "Partial data for the first quarter of this year shows that the number of tourist arrivals to the Mena countries were just 25 per cent of what they were in Q1 2020, and recent increases in COVID-19 cases in key source markets, including the EU, will delay the partial recovery to the second half of this year." The recovery in the tourism sector in the region is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023. Tourists from the EU, UK, Russia, and