Ricardo Acosta, the president of the Peruvian Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (Apavit), affirmed that the years 2020 and 2021 were totally atypical years due to the pandemic and the inaction of the government in the years prior to 2021 due to the fact that the recovery of tourism was nil.
He stated that, this year, it has been recovering slowly and progressively, despite the fact that Peru has become one of the countries with the most restrictions and “if we add to this the current political instability, they are factors that do not collaborate much with the acceleration of the reactivation ”.
He said that the 75% drop at the end of 2021 is “the sad reality that our sector is going through and is reflected by the slow reactivation and the government must relax the restrictions.”
“The capacity of the Jorge Chávez international airport should be made more flexible because this is a great impediment to the implementation of more air frequencies,” said Acosta.
Regarding the number of job losses, the Apavit head reported that between 2020 and 2021, the figure would have exceeded five million nationally and includes travel agents, official tourism guides, artisans, operators, tourist transport, airlines and restaurants and suppliers.
“We must bear in mind that our public sector is a great generator of direct and indirect jobs. Likewise, we must consider that the informality as a result of the pandemic and the scarce control has metastasized in our country, calculating that today it is above 80%, affecting formal companies, “he said.
He added that the regions are increasingly hit and unemployment continues to rise thanks to this scourge called informality. Regarding the panorama of travel agencies, he indicated that 60% were affected and after more than 20 months of inactivity they were forced to return premises.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx