The sheer scale of the covid pandemic’s impact on Asia-Pacific’s tourism sector is becoming clearer with the International Labour Organization (ILO) reporting that at least 1.6 million jobs have been lost in just five countries across the region.

Evidence from Brunei, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam showed that “catastrophic” job losses in tourism-related sectors were four times greater than in other industries during 2020, according to the ILO.