EU tourism sector is fully restored
2023.01.18 14:08
EU tourism sector is fully restored
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – According to a report released on Wednesday by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office, the number of nights spent in tourist lodging in 2022 will be close to pre-pandemic levels.
Before COVID-19 inflicted severe losses on the tourism industry as a result of border closures and lockdowns, the 27-nation bloc recorded 2.72 billion nights spent in tourist accommodations last year, a decrease of only 5.6% from 2019 levels.
This number is up 91.1 percent and 48.3 percent from the levels in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Short-term lodging in hotels and other similar establishments, camping grounds, recreational vehicle parks, and trailer parks are all included in the figures.
Eurostat stated, “The sector appears to be strongly rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
While international tourism was still 12.6% below pre-pandemic levels, at 1.19 billion nights, domestic travel experienced the strongest recovery, exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 0.7%.
Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium, along with non-EU members Liechtenstein, Iceland, and Norway, saw the greatest increase in both domestic and international travelers, surpassing 2019 figures by 12.3%, 3.9%, and 0.5 percent, respectively.
In terms of tourist night numbers, Latvia and Slovakia were among the countries that had the slowest recovery in 2022, only recovering slightly above 70 percent of their levels in 2019.
The World Tourism Organization (WTO) stated in a statement on Tuesday that the year 2023 “could see international tourism arrivals return to pre-pandemic levels in Europe and the Middle East.”
With the recent lifting of COVID-19-related travel restrictions in China and robust demand from the United States, supported by a strong U.S. dollar, the UN-led organization anticipates that the recovery will last through 2023.
However, the UN World Tourism Organization (WTO) warns that the uncertain economic climate and geopolitical tensions may influence tourism behavior, leading to shorter trips, lower costs, and local travel.
