The latest visitor arrivals numbers came out today.

And while media love to focus on the long-term arrival numbers – because MIGRANTS TAKING OUR JERBS – I think the short-term arrival numbers (ie tourists) are perhaps one of the biggest indicators of just how much the pandemic changed things.

Prior to the pandemic the tourist numbers were growing strongly and consistently. Then the borders were shut.

They have now been opened and supposedly everything is back to normal. But normal ain’t normal anymore.

We have never got back to the same level of tourists we had in 2018 and 2019. And in February this year, there was an 8.2% drop in tourist arrivals compared to February last year. That is the second ever biggest February drop excluding the pandemic period.

Not great for tourism operators, hotels, hospitality workers.