MADRID: The world tourism industry barely improved last year compared to 2020, with all indicators staying way below pre-pandemic levels and industry professionals not expecting a full recovery before 2024, the World Tourism Organization said on Tuesday .
Rising vaccination rates and the easing of travel restrictions did allow a small rebound in the second half of 2021, Madrid-based UNWTO said in a report, though the spread of the Omicron variant in December triggered another dip in both travel bookings and industry optimism. Southern Mediterranean Europe, Central America and the Caribbean saw the biggest increases in tourist arrivals compared with 2020, but were still respectively 54 per cent, 56 per cent and 37 per cent below the 2019 numbers.Meanwhile the number of tourists in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific kept falling in 2021, tumbling to 79 per cent and 94 per cent below pre-pandemic levels respectively as many destinations remained closed to non-essential travel.
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