Tourism is gradually returning to pre-crisis levels across Europe, although it has not yet reached 2019 levels. Eurostat reported that in Albania, for the first six months of the year, a total of 719 thousand overnight stays were registered, more than double compared to the same period last year, when the country was suffering the consequences of the pandemic.
Compared to the same period of 2019, net stays for the first 6 months remain almost 11% lower. However May and June were more positive, resulting in about 8% less than pre-crisis levels.
Due to the rapid opening of the country and the easing of measures, tourism in the country is less affected than in other countries in the region and with the average of the European Union.
According to Eurostat, tourist overnight stays in Northern Macedonia for the first six months of the year were 57% lower compared to January-June 2019. For Serbia, the figure in the same period is 31% less and for Turkey 42% less than the pre-crisis. Data for Kosovo and Montenegro are incomplete.
For the 27 countries of the European Union, net stays in tourist accommodation in the first 6 months of 2021 were almost 70% lower compared to January-June 2019. The highest contraction from EU countries, with more than 50% was recorded in Bulgaria, Germany, and Denmark.
Sweden, Norway, Iceland, UK reported decline of less than 50%. Net stays in Italy shrank by 68% compared to the pre-crisis, according to Eurostat data processed by Monitor. Tourism worldwide was most affected by the pandemic, however Eurostat reported that there were signs of recovery in the summer of 2021 in European Union countries. August 2021 showed the most promising signs of recovery in relation to the figures before COVID in terms of the number of nights spent in EU tourist accommodation institutions, such as hotels, holiday units and other short-stay accommodation, and camping.
August 2021 recorded a decrease of 20% compared to August 2019, while August 2020 had a decrease of 30% compared to August 2019. These signs of recovery were also seen in July (-29% in 2021; -40% in 2020) and in June (-51%; -70%).
On the other hand, during 2021, April marked the largest decrease in the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation (-81% compared to April 2019). However, April 2020 had seen a 95% decrease compared to April 2019.
During the three summer months, from June to August 2021, 856 million nights were spent in EU tourist accommodation, a 31% decrease compared to the summer before COVID-19 in 2019. The number of nights spent in the facilities of Tourist accommodation fell across Member States in July-August 2021, compared to 2019, ranging from -48% in Greece to -5% in the Netherlands. The decline was more than 25% for 10 of the 24 Member States with data available.
Compared to 2020, however, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodation facilities in June-August 2021 increased in almost all Member States with data available. Only Latvia has decreased (-16%).
/abcnews.al
