The coronavirus pandemic has devastated the tourism industry worldwide.
Airline passenger traffic has dropped by up to 90%. Major cruise companies are canceling cruises. Marriott, the world's biggest hotel company, furloughed tens of thousands of staff.
In the US, the tourism sectors in 30 states have taken a hit of 80% or more, according to the US Travel Association. The association estimates that the US travel economy has lost $60.8 billion in the past five weeks. Some states have been hit harder than others because their economies are more dependent on tourism.
Personal finance website WalletHub has ranked the states where the tourism industry is suffering the most because of the pandemic.
WalletHub ranked each state and Washington, DC by two factors: "State Dependency on Travel & Tourism Industry," which included metrics like accommodation, food, retail, entertainment, and travel spending per capita; and "State Aggressiveness Against Coronavirus," which included metrics such as a mandatory quarantine for travelers and the presence of a stay-at-home order.
The site then compiled a total score out of 100 for each state. A score of 100 represents the state with the tourism industry that's most affected by the pandemic.
With a total score of 81.38, Hawaii was found to have the hardest-hit tourism sector, followed by Montana and Nevada. Here are the top 15 states where tourism has taken the biggest hit from the coronavirus pandemic, ranked in ascending order.
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