Publication: COVID-19 and Tourism in South Asia: Opportunities for Sustainable Regional Outcomes
Loading...
Files in English
4,344 downloads
Published
2020-06
ISSN
Date
2020-07-08
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
COVID-19 (coronavirus) is affecting nearly 47.7 million travel and tourism jobs across South Asia, many held by women and vulnerable communities working in the informal sector. Losses of over 50 billion US dollars in gross domestic product in the region are expected in the travel and tourism sector alone as a result of the crisis. Governments are already responding with emergency programs to help small and medium enterprises stay afloat and save jobs. As the South Asia region moves from crisis to recovery planning, governments and destinations have an opportunity to think strategically about the future of their tourism sectors and implement policies that will improve the industry. This regional brief is designed to raise awareness of the importance of tourism to the region and to the World Bank's regional portfolio, highlight some measures being taken by governments and the Bank to address the crisis, and provide recommendations for short- and medium-term sustainable regional recovery, including through greater intraregional tourism. The brief covers Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan was excluded due to a lack of data.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Twining Ward, Louise; McComb, Jessie F.. 2020. COVID-19 and Tourism in South Asia: Opportunities for Sustainable Regional Outcomes. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34050 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Tourism Theory of Change(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018)Theory of Change in tourism is about understanding why and how change happens, so that development programs can make the most of the development potential of this sector. It is critically important that there is full understanding of the challenges, assumptions, solutions and indicators for tourism. The evidence behind tourism as a positive development change agent also needs to be regularly challenged and examined. To be successful, projects need to take the entire tourism landscape into consideration and leverage insights from past projects. Theory of Change (ToC) provides a framework for the planning, execution and evaluation of tourism projects and programs that connects to project goals and development objectives and helps maximize tourism’s potential. This report explains Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation (FCI) Global Practice’s Tourism ToC. It is written for World Bank Group Task Team Leaders (TTLs), Project Teams, and Tourism Specialists, as part of a suite of tools to help improve tourism project design. The report articulates the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of FCI’s approach to project design and implementation. It includes a step-by-step guide to using Theory of Change for tourism project and program design.Publication Rebuilding Tourism Competitiveness(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-07)The travel and tourism industry was one of the first sectors to be affected by COVID-19. Since March, the entire value chain that defines the industry — spanning airlines, bus and train companies, cruise lines, hotels, restaurants, attractions, travel agencies, tour operators,online travel entities, and others — has entered a state of suspended animation. While bankruptcies of major airlines and large tour operators have been widely reported, the effectsof the crisis are perhaps being most acutely felt by the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises(SMEs) that make up around 80 percent of licensed tourism and tourism-related businesses, and are at the greatest risk of failure. Their potential collapse threatens to adversely affect millions of people across the world, including many vulnerable communities, who depend on tourism for their livelihoods. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, as many as 100 million jobs supported by travel and tourism are currently at risk.Publication Impacts of COVID-19 on Firms in the Philippines(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021)The findings are based on the survey of 13,878 firms conducted from November 26 to December 10, 2020, to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on firms. This survey builds on a government survey in April 2020 and the World Bank-government joint survey in July 2020, both of which benefit from a large sample size and present a nationwide representative snapshot of firms in the Philippines. Easing of the community quarantine has led to more businesses reopening (63 percent in November vs. 45 percent in July), but with only a small proportion operating at full capacity (9 percent). While some managers closed businesses in compliance with government regulation (9 percent), others voluntarily closed their businesses (21 percent) despite eased community quarantines. About 7 percent of firms reported to have closed permanently. Reduction in sales has continued for firms. 67 percent of firms reported a reduction in sales between July and November 2020, compared to 88 percent between April and July 2020. The main reason for decreased sales is limited operation (58 percent) and inability of customers to come to establishments (38 percent). Downward adjustments of employment continued in November 2020 (38 percent), albeit at a slower pace than in July 2020 (50 percent). Significant shares of firms also made adjustments on the intensive margin, reducing hours (19 percent) and wages (16 percent). Only 3 percent of firms hired new employees. A large share of firms reported acute liquidity constraints, with reports of not having enough cash and having fallen behind in payments. 66 percent of firms did not have enough cash to pay all costs and payments such as payroll, suppliers, taxes or loan repayment beyond 1 month. Two thirds of firms had adjusted loan repayment terms, and 48 percent of firms were in arrears, with an additional 29 percent expecting to be in arrears by February 2021. Despite firms expressing cautious optimism that sales and employment will increase over the next 3 months, many expect their financial positions to worsen.Publication Productivity in the Time of COVID-19(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-26)Firms in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region have been hit hard by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, with dramatic and widespread falls in sales and employment. Firm sales in some EAP countries were 38 to 58 percent lower in April or May 2020, compared to the same month in the previous year. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been particularly affected. The pandemic will have a lasting impact on productivity growth as firm indebtedness and increased uncertainty inhibit investment, and firm closures and unemployment lead to a loss of valuable intangible assets. Support for firms is needed but must be based as far as possible on objective criteria, related not only to past performance or current pain but to the potential for firms, including new firms, to thrive in the future. To avoid unduly prolonging assistance, governments should build exit strategies into the design of support measures and commit to phasing support out by linking it to observable macroeconomic indicators of recovery.Publication How the Tourism Sector in Emerging Markets is Recovering from COVID-19(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2020-12)Summary of Note 95, how the Tourism Sector in Emerging Markets is Recovering from COVID-19 Tourism is an important sector that accounts for 10 percent of global gross domestic product and one in every 10 jobs. As a result of COVID-19-related travel restrictions, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has estimated that international tourist arrivals in 2020 will drop between 58 and 78 percent, which puts 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk. The effects of COVID-19 are felt throughout the extensive tourism value chain, including airlines, hotels, restaurants, tour operators, food suppliers, farmers, retailers, and a wide range of other small and medium enterprises. Although all tourist destinations strongly feel the impact from the pandemic-related crisis, not all have the same vulnerabilities or capacity to recover. This note explores the factors in specific tourism destinations that contribute to pandemic-related vulnerability, as well as the factors that support the resilience of the tourism sector. Examining all these factors together provides a snapshot of the countries as well as the subsectors that are most likely to recover first, as well as those that will require greater support to weather and recover from the crisis.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03)Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Unlocking Blue Carbon Development(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-11)The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical framework to guide governments in catalyzing and scaling up public and private investment in Blue Carbon as part of their blue economy development. It does this by describing in detail a Blue Carbon Readiness Framework, a step-by-step, well-illustrated guide with simple checklists. Client countries can use the illustrations and checklists to determine their readiness to catalyze and scale up investment in blue carbon credit finance. The Blue Carbon Readiness Framework consists of three pillars: 1. Data and Analytics; 2. Policy and Institutions; 3. Finance.