Int’l tourist arrivals to drop 3% due to virus: UN

The number of international tourist arrivals is expected to drop sharply this year, the World Tourism Organization said Friday, reversing a previous forecast for a substantial increase. The United Nations' UNWTO said in a statement that arrivals were now projected to fall by 1.0-3.0 percent in 2020, instead of a previous forecast of growth of 3.0-4.0 percent. This will lead to an estimated loss of $30-50 billion (29-45 billion euros) in international tourism receipts, the Madrid-based body said. If confirmed, this will be the first annual decline in the number of international tourist arrivals since 2009 when the global economic crisis hit the travel and tourism sector hard.