Manila, July 30 -- The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has announced that the tourism sector's losses reached USD320 (PHP16 trillion) billion during the first five months of 2020, as the number of international tourists dropped by 56 percent due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The amount of revenue lost in January-May is more than three times the loss during the global economic crisis of 2009, the UN body said on late Tuesday.
"The UNWTO World Tourism Barometer shows that the near-complete lockdown imposed in response to the pandemic led to a 98 percent fall in international tourist numbers in May when compared to 2019," it added.
Zurab Pololikashvil, the secretary-general of the organization, said: "This latest data makes...