Ineffective government travel restrictions imposed to combat Omicron caused an estimated £7 billion loss to the UK economy last year, according to World Travel & Tourism Council.
This was due to a massive drop in contributions from the country’s embattled travel and tourism sector.
The global sector’s contribution to the economy worldwide lost an estimated £25.7 billion due to the impact of travel restrictions introduced to combat the spread of the new variant.
The impact of nearly two years of worldwide travel restrictions on both the sector in particular, and the economy generally, has continued to linger.
The £7 billion UK loss in contributions emerged from WTTC research as the country finally begins to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
WTTC president and chief executive Julia Simpson said: “Imposing unnecessary travel restrictions to ‘deal’ with Omicron was not backed by science and cost the UK economy £7 billion in lost revenues.
“Travel is opening up worldwide. If the UK is going to start to repair its economy, it needs to keep borders open.”
The number of those employed in the UK travel and tourism sector fell 7.2% from 4.27 million in 2019 to 3.96 million in 2020, according to WTTC’s 2021 economic impact report.
The worldwide travel and tourism sector generated nearly $9.2 trillion to the global economy in 2019, before the pandemic stopped travel in its tracks.
The pandemic brought the sector to an almost complete standstill the following year, causing a massive 49.1% drop, representing a loss of nearly $4.5 trillion.
However, the rebound of the sector means losses have narrowed, with WTTC research showing the global sector could grow to $8.6 trillion this year, just 6.4% behind pre-pandemic levels.