Job losses in tourism during the pandemic in 2020 were four times greater than in non-tourism industries, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a new report.
About 1.6 million tourism-related jobs were lost in five countries where data is available: Brunei Darussalam, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.
Nearly one in three job losses during the pandemic were linked to tourism in these five countries alone.
With many additional jobs indirectly linked to the sector, the real estimate of tourism-related jobs suffering the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the region is likely to be much higher, the ILO said in a report it released yesterday.
In the Philippines, employment losses and decreases in average working hours in 2020 were among the largest.
Employment in tourism contracted by 28 percent compared to an 8 percent loss in non-tourism related sectors.
Average hours worked contracted by 38 percent for Filipinos.
Filipinos working zero hours per week rose 2,000 fold, affecting 775,000 workers.
“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism in Asia and the Pacific has been nothing short of catastrophic,” said Chihoko Asada-Miyakawa, ILO assistant director general and regional director for Asia and the Pacific.
Even with countries in the region focusing heavily on vaccinations and designing strategies to slowly reopen borders, jobs and working hours in the tourism-related sector are likely to remain below their pre-crisis numbers in Asia-Pacific countries into next year, he said.
Where decreases in tourism-related jobs were seemingly small, a deterioration in the quality of available jobs was still evident.
Women workers appear to have been particularly hit with an increased concentration of women carrying out food and beverage (F&B) serving activities, the lowest-paid jobs in the sector.
Working-hour losses in tourism are well above those estimated for other sectors with the magnitude of reduced hours from two to seven times greater than for non-tourism-related workers.
In 2020, working hour losses in the sector ranged from 4 percent in Viet Nam to 38 percent in the Philippines.
In addition, as formal jobs in tourism declined, workers have increasingly moved into the informal sector.
Even as borders reopen, international tourist arrivals are predicted to be slow in the near-term.
As a result, governments in tourism-rich countries are likely to seek broader economic diversification with the ultimate aim to create new employment opportunities in non-tourism activities.
“With tourism revenues at a standstill and with tourism-related jobs among those most affected by the crisis, the pandemic has invited a ‘re-think’ of medium- and long-term tourism strategies,” said Sara Elder, ILO senior economist and lead author of the study.
“The crisis brings with it the opportunity to align the tourism sector towards a more resilient, human-centered future,” Elder added.
“Recovery will take time and affected workers and enterprises in the tourism sector will continue to require assistance to replace lost incomes and preserve assets,” Elder also said.
“Governments should continue to implement support measures, while striving to vaccinate all residents, migrant workers included.”
