Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: travel

  • Greece to open the 2021 tourism season on May 14

    Greece to open the 2021 tourism season on May 14

    Greece will officially open the tourist season on May 14, and tourists must prove anti Covid-19 vaccination, antibodies or take a negative test.

    In addition, they will wear a mask in all public spaces.

    Until then, Greece will gradually lift the restrictions, if allowed by medical estimates and the evolution of the pandemic.

    Even more, all tourists can be subjected to random tests, in the same way as last year.

    A significant difference from last year is the ”rapid tests”, due to which the quarantine for positive cases will be instituted immediately, without the waiting time of 24 hours in 2020.

  • Lumiwings to launch regular flights to Italy from Arad Airport in Romania

    Lumiwings to launch regular flights to Italy from Arad Airport in Romania

    The Greek company Lumiwings will operate two regular flights from Arad International Airport to Italy, Money Buzz! reports.

    The Arad-Forli and Arad-Perugia routes will be launched on June 4, with departures on Mondays and Fridays.

    The ticket price will start from 45 euros, a cost that will include two luggages.

    Lumiwings aircrafts used for these flights will have 139 seats, respectively 168 seats.

    Arad International Airport has not operated regular flights since 2014.

  • Braga (Portugal) is the European Best Destination in 2021

    Braga (Portugal) is the European Best Destination in 2021

    Braga collected 109,902 votes, 28,8% of votes from Portugal and 71,2% of votes from the rest of the world.

    Top 3 is completed by Rome and Cavtat, a Croatian Sustainable Destination awarded by the European Commission, for whom voted 1 traveler on 10.

    612,609 travelers from 192 countries around the world voted this year for the European Best Destinations competition. 61% of votes were from Europe, 39% from outside Europe.

    Interesting, Kefalonia is the Greek Island that collected the highest number of votes since the creation of the competition.

    The favorite destinations for American travelers are Rome, Braga, Cavtat, Paris, and Sibiu.

    Chinese travelers prefer Paris, Rome, Florence, Ghent, Kotor and UK travelers are enjoying Braga, Florence, Rome, Cavtat, Sibiu, and Ghent.

    Tourism growth in the promoted destinations is on average +15%

    European Best Destinations competition have an impact in ”real life” with significant growth of tourists for the top destinations.

    It was recorded a + 17% growth of tourism for Porto rewarded in 2017, + 13% for Bordeaux rewarded in 2015, + 25% for Zadar rewarded in 2016, +41% for Zagreb, European Best Christmas Market 2016-2017-2018, +18% for Budapest awarded the title of European Best Destination in 2019.

  • Spain welcomed only 19 million foreign tourists in 2020, lowest level in the past 51 years

    Spain welcomed only 19 million foreign tourists in 2020, lowest level in the past 51 years

    The number of international visitors to Spain has fallen by more than 80% in 2020, after authorities imposed travel restrictions in context of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

    Spain welcomed only 19 million foreign tourists last year, a level not recorded since 1969. Also, foreign tourists’ spending in 2020 fell by 78.5% to 19.74 billion euros.

    Most foreign tourists came last year from France (3.87 million, a decline of 65.2%), the United Kingdom (3.17 million, down 82.4%) and Germany (2.41 million, a decline of 78.4%).

    In 2019, the number of international visitors reached a record level of 83.5 million, the seventh consecutive year of increase in the number of tourists. They spent 91.91 billion euros.

    Spain is the second most visited country in the world, after France, and tourism counts to about 12% of the Gross Domestic Product.

  • Nights spent in Vienna registered a whopping 74% decrease in 2020

    Nights spent in Vienna registered a whopping 74% decrease in 2020

    In 2020, 97.91 million nights spent in Austria were registered, according to preliminary results from the Statistics Office.

    This corresponds to a 54.75 million or 35.9% decrease compared to the previous year.

    The number of arrivals fell by 45.8% to 25.04 million (non-resident guests: -52.7%; resident guests: -30.5%).

    The highest drop in nights spent in absolute figures was recorded among guests from Germany (-18.21 million), the most important market of origin for Austrian tourism, followed by the Netherlands (-2.94 million), Switzerland and Liechtenstein (-1.78 million), the Czech Republic (-1.18 million), Belgium (-1.16 million) and the United Kingdom (-2.20 million).

    Vienna toursim was hit hardest

    The decrease by federal states varied. With -74.0%, Vienna was hit hardest, while Carinthia (-17.1%), Burgenland (-27.2%) and Styria (-24.5%) closed the calendar year 2020 with significantly lower declines.

    While nights spent by non-resident guests decreased in all federal states, there was an increase in resident guests in Carinthia (+5.4%).

    By types of accommodation, in hotels and similar accommodations the decrease was over 40%. In commercial holiday dwellings and private holiday dwellings the decrease was 22.6% or 23.6%.

  • Sharp decline of bed occupancy in Austrian lodging establishments

    Sharp decline of bed occupancy in Austrian lodging establishments

    Bed occupancy in Austrian lodging establishments was 30.5% in the 2019/20 winter season (November 2019 to April 2020), down 7.2 percentage points from the previous season.

    In commercial accommodation establishments, with the exception of camping, occupancy was 33.3% (-8.4 percentage points), while in private establishments it was 22.5% (-3.8 percentage points), according to Statistics Austria.

    Commercial lodging establishments (excluding camping) were just as affected in Corona Summer 2020, with a drop of 15.8 percentage points and an occupancy rate of 26.3%, as private establishments, which had an occupancy rate of 18.0%, 3.3 percentage points lower than in the previous summer.

    More accommodation establishments and beds

    In the tourism year 2019/20 (November 2019 to October 2020), around 1.14 million beds were available in 68.402 accommodation establishments (not including camping).

    Thus, the number of beds rose by 0.9% and the number of establishments by 1.5% compared to the previous year. 50.6% of the available beds were registered in Tyrol (352,010; +0.4%) and Salzburg (226,675; +1.7%).

    73.5% of the total number of beds available in the 2019/20 tourism year were in commercial and 26.5% in private establishments; 81.5% of the nights spent were in commercial and 18.5% in private accommodation.

    However, there were significantly fewer commercial (32.5% of all accommodation establishments; including camping) than private establishments (share: 67.5%).

    Highest number of beds per 1.000 inhabitants in Obertauern and Ischgl

    The largest bed providers were Vienna (82.465 beds in winter 2019/20 and 81.377 in summer 2020), followed by Saalbach-Hinterglemm (winter: 17.696), and the city of Salzburg with 16.121 beds in summer.

    The highest number of beds per 1 000 inhabitants had Obertauern (12.791 in winter) and Ischgl (7.154 in summer).

    The highest share of private beds was recorded in Zell am See (winter: 34.8%, summer: 36.1%).

    The commercial bed share was highest in the city of Salzburg (winter 97.7% and summer 97.6%).

    The average size of accommodation establishments in Salzburg was 84 beds per accommodation establishment in winter and 81 beds in summer, the lowest was in winter in Schladming, Zell am See and St. Anton am Arlberg with 17 beds per accommodation establishment.

  • The Covid-19 vaccination certificate is not mandatory for travel to Greece

    The Covid-19 vaccination certificate is not mandatory for travel to Greece

    The vaccination certificate will not be a precondition for someone who wants to travel to Greece, said Greek Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis, cited by Novinite.

    Theoharis explained that coronavirus tests will be performed by those who are not vaccinated, but it remains to be seen what will happen, depending on the decisions of the health authorities, who will determine whether the tests will be requested for all visitors.

    He added that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ proposal to the president of the European Commission was meant to shake the waters so that the EU could coordinate the vaccination issue.

    On Tuesday, Mitsotakis called for the creation of an EU-wide COVID-19 vaccination certificate to help relaunch pandemic-ravaged cross-border travel.

    Greek government announced that it will provide 25 million euros in funding for a tourism promotion campaign, in an attempt to attract more visitors this year.

    Greece’s tourism revenues last year reached 4 billion euros, compared to 18 billion euros in 2019, due to global travel restrictions.

  • Only 2.7 million people visited Louvre Museum in Paris last year

    Only 2.7 million people visited Louvre Museum in Paris last year

    Louvre Museum in Paris was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and the number of visitors in 2020 being 72% lower than in 2019, and revenues decreased by over 90 million euros, AFP reports.

    The most visited museum in the world was closed last year for six months, receiving only 2.7 million visitors in 2020, compared to 9.6 million visitors in 2019.

    The absolute record was set in 2018, when 10.2 million visitors were registered.

    In addition, if in a normal year foreign tourists represent 75% of the people who enter the Louvre museum, in 2020 the French accounted for 84% of visitors.

    Lost revenues in 2020 are estimated at over 90 million euros, while aid from the French state amounts to 46 million euros.

  • 69% less foreign tourists arrived in Italy in the first nine months of this year

    69% less foreign tourists arrived in Italy in the first nine months of this year

    In the first nine months of this year, the number of foreign tourists fell by 69%, sending the Italian tourism sector in a ”deep shock”, Reuters reports.

    The number of domestic tourists also fell over the summer, according to Istat.

    Most foreign tourists came to Italy from Germany (47%), while from the US there were almost no visitors.

    The hardest hit regions were the cities and towns on the Mediterranean coast, which saw a 96% decline in foreign tourists in April compared to a similar period in 2019.

    Mountain regions reported a drop of only 9% during the summer.

    The impact of the pandemic on the Italian tourism industry could reach 100 billion euros ($ 118 billion) this year, well above previous estimates, according to recently published studies by tourism groups Confiturismo and Assoturismo.

    The amount represents over 6% of Italy’s GDP at the end of last year.

  • Greece tourism is set to recover next summer

    Greece tourism is set to recover next summer

    Greece’s tourism sector is set to recover next summer said Yannis Retsos, head of the Hellenic Tourism Confederation (SETE), to Reuters.

    The tourism sector in Greece, severely affected by the pandemic, is crucial for the country’s economy, given that it is responsible for about 20% of the GDP and one in five employees works in this field.

    Greece’s tourism revenues stood at 4 billion euros this year, compared to 18 billion euros in 2019, due to global travel restrictions, said Yannis Retsos.

    According to data recently released by the Central Bank of Greece, arrivals of foreign visitors fell by 76% in the first ten months of this year.

    In 2019, Greece registered a record year with over 34 million visitors.

  • Bulgarians traveled more across the border in October 2020

    Bulgarians traveled more across the border in October 2020

    In October 2020, during the continuing epidemic situation in the country, the number of the trips of Bulgarian residents abroad was 493.1 thousand, or by 4.2% above the registered in October 2019.

    In October 2020, the number of arrivals of visitors from abroad to Bulgaria was 419.1 thousand or by 45.3% less in comparison with October 2019.

    A collapse in the trips with all observed purposes was registered: ”holiday and recreation” – by 67.7%, ”professional” – by 57.7% and ”others” (including as guest and passing transit) – by 22.5%.

    Transit passes through the country were 53.1% (222.6 thousand) of all visits of foreigners to Bulgaria.

    The share of visits of ЕU citizens was 44.7% of the total number of foreigners’ visits to Bulgaria in October 2020 or by 53.1% less in comparison with the same month of the previous year.

    A drop in the visits of citizens from all observed countries was registered. The visits of foreigners from other European countries decreased by 30.9%.

  • Over 80% less visitors for Greek museums and archaeological sites this year

    Over 80% less visitors for Greek museums and archaeological sites this year

    During the six-month period from January to June 2020 compared to the corresponding period of 2019, a decrease of 80.1% was observed in the number of visitors of museums, while a decrease of 78.2% was recorded in the number of free admission visitors and an 86.7% decrease in the relevant receipts.

    The operation of museums had been suspended from March 14th until June 15 th 2020.

    As regards archaeological sites, during the six-month period from January to June 2020 compared to the corresponding period of 2019, a decrease of 85.3% was recorded in the number of visitors, while an 83.2% decrease was observed in the number of free admission visitors and a 90.3% decrease in the relevant receipts.

    The operation of archaeological sites had been suspended from March 14th to May 17th 2020.