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Impact of COVID-19
BOX 5.1
Tourism is one of the Middle East and North Africa region’s most important economic and employment sectors. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the tourism sector was growing. Tourists are attracted to the region’s spectacular landscapes and beaches, its cultural heritage, its entertainment and shopping opportunities, and its mild winter climate. Ecotourism is also a growing area, while religious tourism is important especially in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Oil exporting countries such as Oman and Saudi Arabia are recognizing the potential of increasing tourism to diversify their economies and are investing heavily to increase their attractiveness for international tourists.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, almost 90 million international tourist arrivals were recorded in the Middle East and North Africa in 2018—about 6 percent of the world’s total arrivals and about 10 percent more than in 2017 (UNWTO 2019). In the North African countries of Morocco and Tunisia, which rely to a large extent on beach tourism, solid growth was recorded: In 2018, Tunisia’s tourism arrivals experienced double-digit growth. Morocco increased its arrivals by around 8 percent, exceeding 12 million visitors (UNWTO 2019). In 2019, the tourism sector also showed strength elsewhere in the region, as follows:a
• Tourism accounted for over 45 percent of export revenues in Lebanon and over 40 percent in Jordan. • More than 20 million tourists visited the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
• Between 10 million and 15 million tourists visited Bahrain, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Morocco.
• Between 5 million and 10 million tourists visited the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Kuwait, Lebanon, and Tunisia.
Domestic tourism was also growing before the pandemic. The sector and its value chains accounted for about 20 percent of employment and gross domestic product (GDP) in Jordan and Lebanon in 2019; over 15 percent in Morocco; nearly 15 percent in Tunisia; and nearly 10 percent in Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Tourist arrivals are also highly affected by security and geopolitical concerns, but by 2019, tourist arrivals had largely recovered following several terrorist attacks on tourists in Egypt and Tunisia between 2014 and 2016.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had severe negative impacts on the Middle East and North Africa’s tourism sector. In 2020, international tourist arrivals globally decreased by more than 74 percent, according to UNWTO data. Regional impacts were as follows:b
• In April 2020, international tourist arrivals in the Middle East were down 90 percent compared with April 2019 and, for the year as a whole, they were 76 percent lower than in 2019.
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BOX 5.1
• In Tunisia, tourism revenues dropped by around 60 percent in the first three quarters of 2020 compared with 2019, with almost 80 percent fewer international visitors arriving in 2020. In April to June 2020, the reduction in visitors reached almost 100 percent. • In Egypt, tourism receipts in the first two quarters of 2020 were only one-third of those in 2019, with reductions in tourist arrivals reaching almost 100 percent in
April to August 2020. • In Morocco, international tourism receipts were down 93 percent in the third quarter of 2020 compared with 2019. • In Algeria, the tourism receipts for the second quarter were down 82 percent compared with 2019.
• Similarly, receipts and arrivals of international tourists in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab
Emirates have been hit hard by the
COVID-19 crisis, almost obliterating international tourism in the months after the pandemic started in the GCC countries.
With the onset of second and third waves of COVID-19 in the region and around the world, the tourism sector is expected to begin making a real recovery only after the pandemic is contained and the countries are able to welcome tourists again.
a. Tourism data are from the World Development Indicators database. b. Data on COVID-19 impact from the World Tourism Organization of the United Nations (UNWTO), “Global Tourism Dashboard,” https://www.unwto.org/international-tourism-and -covid-19.
Map 5.1 illustrates these processes in some of the most affected areas between 1984 and 2016, displaying severe coastal erosion as red dots and accretion as green dots. The areas shown on the southern Mediterranean shore are mostly eroding.
The Maghreb subregion (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia) is the second fastest coastally eroding area in the world (by 15 centimeters per year), exceeded by only South Asia (86 centimeters per year), as shown in figure 5.1. The Mashreq subregion’s shorelines also retreated, albeit more slowly (around 7 centimeters per year). In contrast, the GCC’s coasts accreted substantially, by almost 70 centimeters per year, owing in part to large-scale coastal reclamation and development projects.
