Prof Ljubica Knezevic Kvelbar - an acadeic member of NECSTouR - is co-autor of this overview of the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism sector:

• Due to the impact of the pandemic on tourism, the overall contribution of tourism to total GDP in Europe halved from 9.5% in 2019 to 4.9% in 2020. International tourism arrivals in Europe dropped by 70% in 2020 in comparison to 2019. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) reported that 3.6 million jobs were lost in Europe in 2020.
• In 2020 there was a significant shift towards domestic and regional travel. Domestic travel share of total travel in Europe increased from 55% in 2019 to 69% in 2020. The pandemic had an uneven impact on Member States and regions. Countries with a large domestic market like Germany, the Netherlands and Poland were hit less severely than smaller countries with limited domestic demand (e.g. Malta and Cyprus).

This thematic briefing provides also policy recommendations to address the challenges emerging from the crisis.

Download the study here and read a summary here.