Domestic tourism can also be essential at times of crisis, and has shown its resilience on multiple occasions.
Globally, domestic tourism is responsible for six times more trips than international tourism (1,400 million international arrivals in 2018). Domestic tourism can also be essential at times of crisis, and has shown its resilience on multiple occasions.
In this context, the UNWTO has published “Tourism and COVID-19. Understanding Domestic Tourism ans Seizing its Opportunities", a report that looks at the world’s main domestic tourism markets and analyses their main characteristics. It also discusses measures being implemented around the world to promote domestic tourism and recover confidence in the sector after COVID-19.
There are still significant international travel restrictions as a result of COVID-19, and travellers will likely prefer shorter trips in the first stages of the reopening of travel. Therefore, countries with a larger proportion of domestic tourism will most likely recover sooner.
The current crisis provides an opportunity for countries to re-evaluate domestic tourism and apply policies that promote it. Although international tourism often gets more attention because of its capacity to generate valuable export revenue, domestic tourism represents a much larger proportion of travellers and spending in many countries.
The first section of the report analyses the world’s domestic tourism market, comparing domestic and international tourist trips and domestic and international hotel guests. It then looks at spending by domestic tourists, which is superior to international tourist spending in most big destinations.
The second part of the study describes initiatives used to promote domestic tourism, case studies of national initiatives and, finally, initiatives by the local private sector.