WTTC said keeping current restrictions would lead to a “continued sluggish recovery” of travel and tourism, putting an estimated 19 million jobs in the sector “in the balance” around the world.
The organisation added that removing international travel restrictions would help the industry surpass 2019’s level of jobs by the end of next year, based on economic modelling conducted by research firm Oxford Economics.
WTTC said the global tourism industry lost 62 million jobs globally in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the number of jobs in the sector only set to rise by a paltry 0.7% this year.
Julia Simpson, WTTC’s chief executive, said: “Our research clearly shows that while the global travel and tourism sector is beginning to recover from the ravages of Covid-19, there are still too many restrictions in place, an uneven vaccine rollout, resulting in a slower than expected recovery of just under a third this year.
“The prime minister has an opportunity to help revive the sector faster by removing the UK red list policy and enabling stress free international travel for all of those fully vaccinated.
“While next year is looking a little more positive in terms of the global economy and jobs, the current rate of recovery is simply not fast enough and is in the most part driven by domestic travel, which is not sustainable in the long term and will not achieve a full economic recovery.”
WTTC wants fully vaccinated travellers to be able to “move freely” with the removal of complex tiered systems of restrictions, as well as the use of digital platforms to prove Covid status at borders and the recognition of all vaccines authorised by the World Health Organisation.
