Travel and tourism sector of Kuwait incurred loss of 1.11 billion in 2020

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KUWAIT CITY, June 27: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has allowed some local companies to transport goods through the passenger planes for three months due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic, reports Al- Qabas daily quoting a reliable source. The source told the daily that a company has been given the go signal to transport goods through the passenger planes from July 1 to Sept 30 in line with the new regulations on loading and transporting goods, affirming that the risks have been evaluated to ensure the safe transport of goods while adhering to the procedures laid down by aircraft manufacturers. Due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus, some airlines decided to use the passenger planes for transporting goods or mail.

Operators have evaluated the reconfiguration of the passenger plane by removing some seats to increase the space for goods, the source revealed. The source said the International Air Transport Association (IATA) issued guidelines last year for the operators to guarantee the safety of using aircraft designed for transporting people to transport goods, including those containing dangerous materials and others. The travel and tourism sector of Kuwait incurred losses of about KD 1.11 billion during the year 2020, which is about 50.9 percent. Its contribution to the GDP declined from KD 2.179 billion in 2019 to KD 1.069 billion in 2020 (constituting 3.3 percent of GDP).

According to a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council, the spending of foreign tourists in Kuwait decreased from KD 342.5 million in 2019 to KD 120.5 million in 2020, constituting 64.8 percent. The spending of local tourists decreased by 49.3 percent from KD 1.699 billion in 2019 to KD 861.5 million in 2020. The sector’s contribution to employment decreased by about 21.5 percent, as about 28,600 people lost their jobs in the sector. This sector employed 133,200 people in 2019 which then decreased to 104,600 in 2020. The sector’s losses globally amounted to $4.5 trillion.

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