Tourism International

International tourism plummets 70 percent

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit global tourism hard. Latest data shows a 70 percent decline in international arrivals for the first eight months of 2020.

New data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reveals international arrivals plunged 81 percent in July and 79 percent in August, traditionally the two busiest months of the year and the peak of the Northern Hemisphere summer season. The drop translates into a loss of US$ 730 billion in export revenues from international tourism, and is more than eight times the loss experienced on the back of the 2009 global economic and financial crisis.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “This unprecedented decline is having dramatic social and economic consequences and puts millions of jobs and businesses at risk. This underlines the urgent need to safely restart tourism, in a timely and coordinated manner”.

According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer data, Asia and the Pacific was the “first region to suffer from the impact of COVID-19, and saw a 79 percent decrease

in arrivals, followed by Africa and the Middle East (both – 69 percent), Europe (-68 percent) and the Americas (-65 percent).

“Following its gradual reopening of international borders, Europe recorded comparatively smaller declines in July and August (-72 percent and -69 percent, respectively). The recovery was short-lived however, as travel restrictions and advisories were reintroduced amid an increase in contagions. On the other side of the spectrum, Asia and the Pacific recorded the largest declines with -96 percent in both months, reflecting the closure of borders in China and other major destinations in the region”.

UNWTO states it expects an overall drop close to 70 percent for the whole of 2020 and rebound in international demand is expected by Q3 2021.

Travel restrictions are the main barrier standing in the way of the recovery of international tourism, along with slow virus containment and low consumer confidence. The lack of coordinated response among countries to ensure harmonised protocols and coordinated restrictions, as well as the deteriorating economic environment were also identified by experts as important obstacles for recovery.

High-rise building cladding fire risk remains a worry for Kiwis

A year after the Sky City Convention Centre fire, building scientists Oculus Architectural Engineering, are voicing concerns about the combustibility of cladding still being used on many New Zealand buildings, especially after proposed safety changes were scrapped.

Co-director Shawn McIsaac says there are thousands of Kiwis living in multistorey buildings with combustible cladding and timber as part of the façade assembly and that proper testing is the only way to make sure buildings are safe, preventing disasters such as the Grenfell fire in London.

Proposed changes to the building code that would have required much more rigorous fire testing of cladding on buildings between 10 and 25 metres tall, appear to have been indefinitely postponed by MBIE, despite submissions showing overwhelming support for them to go ahead, McIsaac said: “We need to ask the public whether they feel safe in an eight-story building with combustible materials on the outside. It appears that will be permitted.”

Oculus co-director James Powers said the changes would have clarified that all materials in the wall ‘build up’, including items like timber studs and battens, would have to be tested. However, he says pressure from the timber industry has influenced the decision to hold off on implementing them. “MBIE had proposed changes to take effect in June 2020 that would have expanded the types of testing that could be used, clarified the definition of an external wall material, and further clarified that all materials in the wall need to meet test requirements. This proposed change was suddenly reversed in October 2020 and they are now proposing that timber is exempt from testing for buildings up to 25 metres.”

He said this would mean New Zealand’s regulations would be getting more relaxed, which was the opposite to global safety trends, and that MBIE had cited concerns on the impact the changes would have had on the timber sector, as well as the need for more evidence, as reasons.

“Supporting the timber industry in providing sufficient evidence that the timber in building facades could be protected in the event of a fire would have been a positive move,” he said.

“Like any other material that is combustible there needs to be testing to show that it can be protected in the event of a fire. The proposed changes, that fire testing was required where timber was present, was a responsible solution and follows global precedence.”

“NZ is different from other developed countries in that timber is used in façade assemblies for tall buildings. This potential weakness means that we cannot use a lot of fire testing data from overseas. We need to bridge the gap.”