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International Covid-19 news: Global tourism industry 'could lose trillions', EU opens borders

The coronavirus crisis could cost global tourism and related sectors from $1.2 trillion to $3.3 trillion in lost revenue, the United Nations said Wednesday, AFP reports.

Lockdown restrictions to control the spread of Covid-19 have hammered the tourism sector particularly hard, the UN Conference on Trade and Development said in a report.

The world tourism industry is expected to lose at least $1.2 trillion in the best-case scenario, UNCTAD calculated.

In a report entitled "Covid-19 and Tourism: Assessing the Economic Consequences", UNCTAD modelled three scenarios that included the sector's supply chain.

The scenarios are moderate, where a third of annual inbound tourism expenditure is removed, equivalent to a four-month standstill; intermediate, removing two-thirds, equivalent to an eight-month halt; and dramatic, where all expenditure is removed, equivalent to a 12-month shutdown.

In the most optimistic scenario, the world's tourism sector could lose at least $1.2 trillion, or 1.5% of global gross domestic product.

That rose to $2.2 trillion or 2.8% of global GDP during an eight-month halt.

In the most pessimistic scenario, UNCTAD projected losses of $3.3 trillion or 4.2% of global GDP.

In just the moderate scenario, Jamaica would lose 11% of its national output; Thailand 9%, Croatia 8%, and Portugal 6%.

The Dominican Republic, Kenya and Morocco would all lose 5%.

In some countries, such as small island developing states, tourism accounts for more than half of GDP.

EU opens borders to 15 countries

The European Union reopened its borders on Wednesday to visitors from 15 countries, AFP reports.

The final list of nations safe enough to allow residents to enter the EU did not include Russia, Brazil or the US, where the daily death toll passed 1 000 on Tuesday for the first time since 10 June.

The EU hopes relaxing restrictions on countries from Algeria to Uruguay will breathe life into its tourism sector, which has been choked by a ban on non-essential travel since mid-March.

Travellers from China, where the virus first emerged late last year, will be allowed to enter the bloc only if Beijing reciprocates and opens the door to EU residents.

The Auschwitz Museum reopens

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum reopened to the public on Wednesday after nearly four months under a coronavirus lockdown that forced it to appeal for funding as revenues from visitors dried up, AFP reports.

The museum on the site of Nazi Germany's most notorious death camp normally draws more than two million visitors from across the globe each year. This year's closure was unprecedented.

Entrance to the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death
Entrance to the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp which operated 4 gas chambers where 6 000 people were put to death each day by the Nazi regime.

"We've reopened with several health precautions for visitors, namely smaller tour groups, social distancing, masks required indoors and the use of hand sanitiser," museum spokesman Bartosz Bartyzel told AFP.

He said that around 1 000 visitors, including Poles and people from abroad, had booked tours via the museum's website for Wednesday.

"Future bookings depend very much on how the pandemic evolves, the situation is still uncertain," Bartyzel added.

Poland reopened its borders with most European Union partners on 13 June after it introduced anti-virus lockdown measures relatively early in March.

This year marks 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, where the Nazis killed more than 1.1 million people, mostly European Jews.

Luxury UK department store Harrods to cut jobs

Luxury British department store Harrods said on Wednesday it plans to cut up to 672 jobs because of the coronavirus crisis, which kept its flagship branch in central London closed for nearly three months.

Harrods, which is owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), told staff it needed to shed up to 14% of its total workforce of 4 800.

Employees affected will primarily be in parts of the business that have been worst hit by the lockdown.

Chief Executive Michael Ward warned it would take a drastic improvement in external conditions for Harrods' business to recover and return to growth.

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