Pandemic led to 98 percent fall in international tourist numbers in May

As many would expect, the coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected the global tourism industry, the United Nations World Tourism Organization said Tuesday.

The latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer revealed that lockdowns have led to a 98 percent fall in international tourist numbers in May compared to 2019. Dating back to January, the year-over-year drop was 56 percent.

That, in turn, led to a big drop in revenue. Since the beginning of the year, $320 billion in international tourism receipts have been lost, a figure more than three times the decline that occurred in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. That's not entirely surprising considering there wasn't a major public health that deterred people from traveling, but it still highlights the extreme nature of the current struggles in the tourism industry.

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"The latest data makes clear the importance of restarting tourism as soon as it is safe to do so," UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said. "The dramatic fall in international tourism places many millions of livelihoods at risk, including in developing countries." Read more about the latest tourism data here.