THIS EVENT HAS NOW BEEN POSTPONED
Date: 31st March 2021 Time: 6:00 - 7:30pm BST
Speakers: Rabah Arezki, Mariyana Nikolova, Haris Theocharis, Zayed Al Zayani
Chair: Simeon Djankov
For years, residents of Barcelona, Paris and Venice and resorts like Santorini and Ibiza have complained about the millions of tourists who visit them each year. In 2020, they got a reprieve, but not the sort they bargained for. Across advanced economies, tourism has collapsed to between a quarter and a third of its 2019 level.
Some types of tourism – for example business travel and conventions – have disappeared altogether. A survey of businesses in the tourism sector in OECD countries finds that more than half may not survive until 2021. The main reason for this dire forecast is the prevalence of small businesses operating in tourism – family hotels, restaurants, travel agencies and entertainment venues. Governments have so far come up with various measures to alleviate the collapse in tourism flows. The panel will discuss which measures are yielding results and what other measures may help businesses in the tourism sector.
Rabah Arezki (@rabah_arezki) is Chief Economist and Vice President, Economic Governance and Knowledge Management at the African Development Bank Group.
Mariyana Nikolova is Minister of Tourism and Deputy Prime Minister for Bulgaria.
Haris Theocharis is Minister of Tourism for Greece.
H.E. Zayed Al Zayani is Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism for Bahrain.
Simeon Djankov (@SimeonDjankov) is Co-Director for Policy at the Financial Markets Group, LSE and Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSECOVID19
This talk is part of the Shaping the Post-COVID World series. Building on the important conversations and research being undertaken as part of the COVID-19 response, the Shaping the Post-COVID World initiative will convene a debate about the direction the world could and should be taking after this crisis and what policies national and global actors should pursue. We have an opportunity to help shape the “new normal” in line with our strategic ambition to be the leading social science institution with the greatest global impact.
