By Prof Utpal Kumar De*, Dr Simi Mehta**
Tourism, the third-largest export sector in the global economy, is severely affected due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and has returned to the stage of at least two decades back. From January to October 2020, the revenue from international tourism recorded a loss of US$ 935 billion, which is ten times larger than the loss of the global economic crisis in 2008. As per the estimate of UNWTO, the global GDP is expected to contract in the range of 1.5% to 2.8% due to this pandemic affecting people’s livelihood engaged in tourism-related activities across the countries with an overall approximate global GDP loss of 2 trillion USD. One out of ten people in the world depends on the tourism industry directly or indirectly. The estimated direct job loss ranges between 100 and 120 million for the decline of international tourists’ arrival, which is expected to reduce by 70% to 75%.