In 2020, the tourism and travel sector accounted for 272 million jobs worldwide, contributing 10% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). In developing countries, it is an economic powerhouse and has repercussions on land use planning, transport, agriculture, crafts and construction.
The worldwide stoppage of travel since 2020, linked to measures to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, is therefore causing a social tsunami. If cruise employees are affected, particularly in Thailand, this is also the case for employees and self-employed with various activities. As in Morocco, Barbados, Croatia and Tunisia.
Abdellah Najib, carriage driver in Marrakech (Morocco), in need of customers
Each time, Abdellah Najib believed in it. In September, when Morocco allowed foreign tourists with hotel reservations to return. Also in December, when the establishments of Marrakech were full for the end of the year celebrations. Even in January, he believed it: the launch of the vaccination campaign in the kingdom would end the crisis. Each time, he went with his carriage in front of the famous Jemaa El-Fna square in Marrakech, hoping that someone would use his services. But the tourists never returned. The low frequency of flights, the maintenance of drastic restrictions in the country as well as the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe have slowed down bookings. And the curfew introduced in December caused an avalanche of cancellations.
It has been a year since Abdellah Najib dragged his horse through the deserted streets of the tourist capital of Morocco, where the sector weighs 7% of the gross domestic product (GDP). In the ocher city and its region, 90% of the tourist clientele comes from abroad. Since the country closed its borders in mid-March 2020, ” until further notice “, the French, the Spaniards, the Chinese no longer come. Even the community of expatriates and retirees who reside there year-round has shrunk. And local initiatives to encourage residents to borrow horse-drawn carriages were not enough to revive the activity.
“My family has owned horses for three generations, we don’t know how to do anything else”, says the 63-year-old coachman, who has hardly any income. Like most carriage drivers in the country, Abdellah Najib works in the informal circuit. During the first months of the health crisis, he received state aid equivalent to 100 euros per month. But the allowances have stopped and he is now struggling to feed his family. “What are we going to do now?” “, laments the father of five children.
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