ILO Newsroom, Lima — 30 June 2021
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has announced the need to design policies aimed at the recovery of tourism in Latin American and Caribbean countries, highlighting it as one of the most dynamic economic sectors essential for the generation of foreign exchange, income and jobs. A new ILO regional technical note on tourism and the pandemic, titled “Towards a sustainable recovery of employment in the tourism sector in Latin America and the Caribbean,” reveals that while total employment contracted on average by 24.8% in the second quarter of 2020, the loss of jobs in the hotel and restaurant sector totalled 44.7%.
Before the pandemic in 2019, the tourism economy accounted for 26% of total GDP in the Caribbean and 10% in Latin America. The reduction in employment did not affect all workers equally: the loss was greater for women, young workers, migrant workers and those in informal positions. Women were overrepresented in hotel and restaurant subsectors at 58% of employment. Young workers (up to age 24) made up 20.9% of tourism employment vs. 13.5% of total employment. Informal jobs in tourism outweighed informality elsewhere: 63.3% of hotel and restaurant workers were in informal conditions, vs. 51.8% of total employment.
“The recovery of tourism depends directly on the advancement of vaccinations and the adoption of adequate safety and health measures at work. The reactivation of this sector may have an important multiplier effect on the economy and employment, which may be crucial to overcome the crisis generated by the pandemic,” said ILO Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Vinicius Pinheiro. He added that recovery policies must improve job quality, stimulate formalisation, and support micro and small businesses. The ILO analysis also highlights the need for a gender perspective, digitisation, productive transformation, creation of green jobs, and social dialogue to ensure recovery benefits host communities.