Business

Report: Tourism to Latin America hammered by COVID

Posted July 01, 2020 7:00 am

By JOSHUA GOODMAN

Pigeons take flight in an empty Plaza Vieja in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, June 23, 2020. Nearly three months of a near-total shutdown of commerce, transportation, and public spaces, combined with health monitoring and virus testing has led to the virtual elimination of COVID-19 in Cuba. (AP Photo/Ismael Francisco) The Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) - With the coronavirus keeping Americans at home during the summer, countries south of the U.S. border are bracing for an economic reckoning from a decline in tourism.

A new repor t Wednesday by the Inter-American Development Bank estimates that some of the most tourism-dependent economies in Latin America and the Caribbean could shrink by as much as 19% as a result of fewer cruise ships, business travelers and student backpackers traveling to the region.

The Caribbean destinations of Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, St. Lucia and Dominica are among the top 10 tourism-dependent countries in the world. Even larger, more diversified economies depend on tourism for jobs and hard currency earnings. For example, tourism accounted for about 16% of Mexico's economic output between 2014 and 2018, according to the IDB.

The expected economic shock is unprecedented. While tourism arrivals to the region contracted by as much as about 4% during the global financial crisis, the near-complete shutdown of both air travel and cruise ship activity beginning in March from the global pandemic could lead to declines of anywhere from 40% to 70%, according to the report.

'œThe COVID-19 shock to tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean represents an unprecedented extreme outlier event,'ť conclude the report's authors. 'œGovernment interventions to support the sector and their citizens must be equally unparalleled.'ť

Workers do maintenance on the rooftop pool of the Capri Hotel during a lockdown affecting tourism to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. Cuba's once-vibrant private hospitality sector, devastated by the three-month shutdown, remains closed to international business and will have to wait until later phases to try to begin to recover. (AP Photo/Ismael Francisco) The Associated Press

The Malecon waterfront is devoid of people during a lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, June 18, 2020. With coronavirus cases down to a handful a day, Cuba is betting on a new form of tourism by designating five keys off its coast as all-inclusive vacation sites almost completely isolated from the rest of Cuba, in an attempt to restart a vital industry without reintroducing the virus to the country. (AP Photo/Ismael Francisco) The Associated Press

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