AP A man walks through a deserted part of Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, South Africa, on Monday, November 29. As countries shut their doors to foreign tourists or reimpose restrictions because of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, tourism that was just finding its footing again could face another major pandemic slowdown.

Tourism businesses that were just finding their footing after nearly two years of devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, are being rattled again as countries throw up new barriers to travel in an effort to contain the omicron variant.

From shopping districts in Japan and tour guides in the Holy Land to ski resorts in the Alps and airlines the world over, a familiar dread is rising about the renewed restrictions.

Meanwhile, travellers eager to get out there have been thrown back into the old routine of reading up on new requirements and postponing trips.

Abby Moore, a librarian and associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, was scheduled to leave for Prague on Wednesday. But the day before her flight, she started having doubts when she saw that Prague had closed its Christmas markets and imposed a citywide curfew.

“I wasn’t really concerned about my trip until the Czech Republic started what looked like a mini-lockdown process,” said Moore, who decided to reschedule her travel to March.

https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20211203/omicron-unravels-travel-industrys-plans-comeback