IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON EUROPEAN TOURISM BUSINESS

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism business in European region is analised. The indicators of quantity and qualitaty in order to identify the degree of pandemic impact on European tourism industry are analyzed. Evidently the tourism industry felt a significant negative impact during the pandemic. However, like any process, the pandemic can bring not only negative consequences, but also stimulate positive changes in various areas, which will ultimately bring the tourism sector to a new level of development. The countries which have significant changes of tourist flows are determined. Two groups of countries which tourism structural indicators significantly differ are identified. The countries with significant reduction or increase in the number of tourists accommodations are identified. The summer and autumn-winter tourists periods are taken into account during the calculations. Such analysis was aimed at identifying how much a tourist season has suffered from a pandemic. The calculations apply to both resident and non-resident tourists. In addition, the structural indicators of tourist accommodations in more than 80 European regions are calculated and analyzed at the article. Eeach region has indicators of accomodations near 10 million per year. The result of such calculations is the countries list part of resident and non-resident tourists has significantly increased or decreased. Such research allows a more objective assessment of the changes that have taken place in the European tourism market. The regions and the countries have been most affected by the crisis are detected. Each country of the European region has undergone structural changes in the studied processes, and most notably Turkey, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Slovenia, Romania, and Ireland. There are a number of countries where such changes are not significant. These include Malta, Norway, Cyprus, and Liechtenstein. The COVID-19 pandemic was identified as a major negative factor of the EU tourism business over the past years.The European and national measures in supporting the tourism sector in a pandemic period are summarized.