With the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar has lost over half a billion dollars in expected tourism revenue according to official estimates. The outbreak caused Madagascar to stop international flights on March 20 after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported. Although these efforts were taken to curb the virus spread, it left the mega diverse island nation already struggling with extreme poverty more vulnerable due to the lack of revenue international tourism provides. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Madagascar frequently ranks among the 10 poorest countries in the world. In 2019, more than 375,000 tourists visited the island country with annual tourism dollars reaching nearly $900 million. Reports show that the average traveller spends around $3,000 in Madagascar where 75 per cent of its 25 million inhabitants live on less than $1.90 a day. The fallout from COVID-19 is set to affect Madagascar’s tourism sector significantly. Epidemiologist Christopher Golden, a National Geographic fellow who has been doing environmental and public health research in Madagascar for 20 years, echoes that concern. The lack of tourism, he says, is “weakening and destabilizing people’s incentives to maintain protected areas.
Correspondingly, France and Germany which are the significant funders for secured zones in Madagascar are likewise a portion of the most exceedingly awful European countries influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and are gazing at a drawn out financial emergency. It is, be that as it may, hard to state their future interest in Madagascar's preservation which draws in sightseers.
With around 448 COVID-19 cases affirmed in Madagascar and just two detailed passing’s to date, the infection remains as a hindrance for travellers ready to visit the nation. The absence of the travel industry income will negatively affect the country at last prompting a general GDP decay. The Madagascan government is along these lines expected to make arrangements to alleviate the impact of this travel industry drop.