(ANSAmed) - NAPLES, 11 MAG - Tourism in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia is expected to recover by 2023, depending on rapid vaccine distribution and investments in digital technology, said the Institute of International Finance (IIF), The National reports.
    The recovery for these less wealthy, non-oil-exporting countries will be gradual, limited and slower compared to the wealthier countries of the Gulf, according to the IFF study.
    Garbis Iradian, the IIF's chief economist for Mena, Caucasus and Central Asia, said, "We expect the five tourism-dependent Mena economies to suffer much longer than the six GCC countries from the negative impacts of the pandemic".
    Reasons also include the global aviation stop due to Covid, which is now easing but for those who are vaccinated. Prior to Covid-19, tourism contributed directly and indirectly to more than 15% of GDP and 35% of foreign exchange earnings in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Tourism fell by 75% in 2020 compared with 2019. Partial information for the first quarter of 2021 shows that tourist arrivals to these five MENA countries were just 25% of what they were in the same quarter of 2020.
    "Increases in Covid-19 cases in key source markets for arrivals such as the EU will delay the partial recovery of the sector to the second half of this year," Iradian said.
    Tourists from the EU, UK, Russia, and the US may be lured by other countries in the Mediterranean region with lower costs, or may take domestic trips, he said.
    Tourism recovery will therefore depend on vaccination, stronger healthcare systems, and investments in digital technology.
    "Investment in digital technology could be a bridge to recovery but requires a reorientation of job creation into new categories," Iradian said.
    "Expanding the use of innovation and digitalisation would support creating new jobs for the youth, women and other vulnerable groups," he said. (ANSAmed).