A new research report states that Bahrain recorded the world’s fastest tourism recovery rate of 95% since the pandemic, with tourist numbers reaching 3.8 million in 2021.
According to the analysis from a UK-based price comparison website, the 2021 tourism revenue of USD 1.8 billion is only 49 percent of what the island country accumulated in 2019 (USD 3.7 billion), which implies that travellers are spending less when they are visiting.
Albania welcomed over 5.3 million tourists in 2021 in subsequent place, just short of its 2019 total. The report also noted that this south-east European country hopes to return to its pre-lockdown visitor peak soon with a varied blend of coastal and mountainous regions on offer for tourists.
Third in place of the top three countries, The Caribbean nation Dominican Republic posted the highest recovery and saw 5 million visitors in 2021, which was around 78 percent of its total for 2019 which stood at 6.4 million. According to data provided by the country’s Ministry of Tourism, the country attracted 700,000 tourists in December 2021 alone, which was more than it had in any other month on record.
Montenegro ranks tenth, while the small Balkans 2021 tourist total of 1.6 million is only 64 percent of its 2019 total of 2.5 million. The report mentioned that the recovery rate from the 2020 crash of 400000 is remarkable.
A finance expert at a UK-based price comparison website commented on the research saying that after over two years of lockdown people are looking abroad for their next holiday. A lot of usual things people look for in a potential destination would remain the same, while consumer tendencies have changed incessantly. No matter what the location and type of holiday, affordability would remain the top priority.
Amidst the strict quarantine restrictions and closure of borders, the tourism industry and its associated businesses were forced to go dark early into the pandemic.
Countries where tourism is struggling to recover post-pandemic
According to the research, Hong Kong’s tourism business is struggling to recover the most. Twenty-four million tourists in 2019 dropped to approximately 100,000 in 2021, just 0.4 percent of its pre-Covid popularity.
In a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Philippines only reopened its borders to leisure and business travel in February after over two years of keeping them shut. In the meantime, Singapore, Cambodia, Argentina, and Chile joined the Philippines in the bottom half of the rankings.
Japan recorded the second slowest return to normality. The tourist volume in 2021 was around 200,000 which accounts for 0.6 percent of its 2019 total of 31.9 million. Taiwan ranks in the top three countries struggling to return to normalcy, recording 100,000 tourists in 2021, in stark contrast to a total of 11.9 million visitors in 2019.