The coronavirus pandemic will cost the global tourism sector $2 trillion in lost revenue in 2021, AFP quotes the UN's tourism body as saying, calling the sector's recovery “fragile” and “slow”.

The forecast from the Madrid-based World Tourism Organisation comes as Europe is grappling with a surge in infections and as a new heavily mutated Covid-19 variant, dubbed Omicron, spreads across the globe.

International tourist arrivals will this year remain 70-75 per cent below the 1.5 billion arrivals recorded in 2019 before the pandemic hit, a similar decline as in 2020, according to the body.

The global tourism sector already lost $2tr (1.78tr euros) in revenues last year due to the pandemic, according to the UNWTO, making it one of the sectors hit hardest by the health crisis.