Tourism and the Sustainable Development Agenda: Seizing opportunity in crisis

COVID-19 has brought global tourism to a standstill as countries impose full or partial travel restrictions and consumers stay home. Prior to 2020 international arrivals had been rising by an average of 4% a year. While it is too early to quantify the full cost of the pandemic, it is clear that this sudden fall in demand will have a significant impact, hampering economic development throughout the entire tourism value chain and its SMEs and placing millions of jobs at risk, most notably those held by the most vulnerable members of our societies.