Everyone in Wales's tourism sector has known 2020 has been one of the toughest years ever - but new figures have now laid bare the economic hit.
The pandemic struck the 海角视频 in March - just as the visitor season usually starts to gear up for many.
It wiped out months of trade - with lockdown in place over Easter and the early summer weeks.
A mini-boom helped provide some respite in August and September but local lockdowns and the Wales firebreak brought this to a halt.
Now the STEAM (Scarborough聽Tourism聽Economic Activity Monitor) figures for Wales for the first 10 months of the year have been published.
They show a 拢6bn hit to the economy across Wales - from more than 拢9.5bn last year, a 63% reduction.
There were 100m fewer visitor days compared with 2019, with the total down to 59m.
North Wales took the biggest hit, with a 拢2.17bn reduction in the economic impact of the sector, with 拢0.79bn lost in Mid Wales, 拢1.1bn in the South West, and 拢1.87 in the South East.
Jim Jones, the chief executive of North Wales Tourism, said: 鈥淭he impact of Covid-19 on the tourism sector in the region has been absolutely catastrophic.
鈥淭he devastating scale of the economic disaster has been laid bare in the new report from STEAM.
鈥淚t shows that tourism and hospitality has seen a disastrous聽 loss of 拢2.17 billion to the economy of North Wales. That's a loss of 63% and a shrinkage in the sector to levels from over 20 years ago.
鈥淭his is a huge hammer blow, as prior to the COVID crisis we were celebrating that in 2019 tourism had attracted record numbers of visitors and revenue rose to an all-time high of 拢3.6 billion."
Until the pandemic struck, the visitor economy was continuing to grow strongly and provided jobs for more than 43.000 people.
'We know many jobs have already been lost'
Jim Jones added: 鈥淭he 63% shrinkage is in real terms does not take into account how much the economy was predicted to grow this year. If you do that, then the losses are even starker.
鈥淲e have argued consistently that any measures imposed upon us by the Welsh Government had to be balanced between protecting people鈥檚 lives but also protecting people鈥檚 livelihoods, as without an economy many of our towns and communities will face an unprecedented level of economic hardship in the years to come.
鈥淲e know many jobs have already been lost, morale is low and many business owners are experiencing frustration and despair.
鈥淩ecent research commissioned by the North Wales & Mersey Dee Business Council and North Wales Tourism showed up to 80% of business owners are experiencing a deterioration in their mental and physical health.
"None of this has been helped by the confusion, stop-start restrictions and lack of proper targeted financial support for the industry from Welsh Government.
"Visitors will of course want to return to North Wales but the challenge is to make sure we still have a tourism infrastructure for them to come back to.鈥
Economic reconstruction
海角视频Hospitality Cymru says hospitality and tourism can lead the way in the economic reconstruction and recovery mission planned by Welsh Government in 2021.
海角视频Hospitality Cymru executive director David Chapman said:聽鈥淭he聽Welsh Government has made it very clear to us聽in聽its weekly ministerial discussions聽that, following the impacts of the last nine months, it now recognises just how vital聽hospitality is to the Welsh economy, it鈥檚 communities and its culture.
鈥淗ospitality can be the聽phoenix-like provider of a resilient resurgence if backed strongly by Government across Wales.
"We are battered but not broken and can bounce back from the seismic shocks and commercial catastrophes of 2020 to be the solid and reliable cornerstone of the new Welsh economy.
鈥淪o,聽let鈥檚 build on our indigenous excellence and together make hospitality the lynchpin of the economy of the new Wales.
"We can weave sense of place, local food and drink suppliers, local employment and the international visitor economy into the heart of the tapestry of a new, vibrant foundational economy.鈥
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: 鈥淐oronavirus has had a massive impact on the tourism and hospitality sectors in Wales and we are doing everything we can to support businesses through this very difficult period.
鈥淲e have made significant funding available to businesses, particularly through our bespoke Economic Resilience Fund.
"Tourism businesses in Wales have benefited from more than 拢27m from the first two phases of the fund.
"We recently announced a further 拢340m to help businesses impacted by the latest coronavirus restrictions, which came into force on 4 December.鈥
A new eligibility checker is launching this morning for the latest Welsh Government Covid fund worth 拢180m.
