Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has “cast a shadow” on the bright hopes of resuming tourism in Europe after the pandemic. However, Europe expects to see “in a few weeks” what this has led to and what the prospects are for tourism this summer – so far, tourists prefer to wait and book nothing. The prospects, by the way, are hampered by the consequences of European sanctions – in particular, the closure of Russian airspace for Europe and vice versa. This assessment by German tourism experts was provided by the Turkish media.
“We need to see whether Russian aggression will cause general uncertainty over the next few weeks and, therefore, whether it will affect the booking and tourist behavior of German citizens. In any case, it has cast a shadow over hopes of reviving tourism, which is just beginning to flourish, ”said Norbert Phoebe, president of the German Tourist Association (DRV). So far, according to his report, the situation has sharply reduced the total number of bookings and forecasts made at the beginning of the year that this year tourism will be able to approach the level of 2019, has been postponed again.
“The incident in Ukraine shows that we should at least be careful in 2022. It seems that 2022 will not exactly correspond to the beginning of the pandemic. The expectation of a return to the level of 2019 should be postponed to at least 2023, “the expert stressed.
Among the reasons for this situation, the expert first called psychological: potential tourists need reliability, and in an alarming situation, not every European tourist is going to rest. According to him, “destinations close to Russia” will be particularly affected – by the way, Turkey, which published the statement, may be among them.
Europe is also free from economic problems: against the background of political events, the price of oil per barrel has risen to $ 110, which will increase the cost of all fuels. At the same time, “the need for more fuel through Russia’s closed airspace will make the whole trip more expensive,” the German expert said. He noted that according to Lufthansa, prices, especially for Asian tours, are growing every day. And the airline’s chief financial officer, Remko Steenbergen, said the carrier would need to raise ticket prices to offset rising fuel and other costs.