Money Buzz! Europa

Category: Travel

  • Greece: Travel receipts fell by 97.5% in June 2020

    Greece: Travel receipts fell by 97.5% in June 2020

    Travel receipts in June 2020 fell by 97.5% to €64 million, from €2,558 million in June 2019, while travel payments also decreased by 81.3% (June 2020: €36 million, June 2019: €195 million).

    The fall in travel receipts resulted from a 93.8% decline in inbound traveller flows and a 58.7% decrease in average expenditure per trip.

    Net receipts from travel services offset 2.1% of the goods deficit and accounted for 9.2% of total net receipts from services.

    In January-June 2020, the number of inbound visitors fell by 76.9% to 2,178 thousand (January-June 2019: 9,407 thousand).

    Specifically, visitor flows through airports declined by 84.6% and visitor flows through road border-crossing points fell by 55.4%.

    In the period under review, visitors from within the EU27 dropped by 78.6% year-on-year to 1,131 thousand, while visitors from outside the EU27 decreased by 74.7% to 1,046 thousand.

    The number of visitors from within the euro area fell by 85.5%, while visitors from non-euro area EU27 countries dropped by 64.4%.

    Specifically, the number of visitors from Germany fell by 89.1% to 148 thousand, while visitors from France decreased by 93.4% to 35 thousand.

    Turning to non-EU27 countries, the number of visitors from the United Kingdom fell by 89.4% to 117 thousand, while visitors from the United States dropped by 79.6% to 86 thousand and visitors from Russia decreased by 85.8% to 22 thousand.

  • Accommodation establishments in Slovakia continued the drop in June

    Accommodation establishments in Slovakia continued the drop in June

    In June 2020, accommodation establishments in Slovakia continued to face drop in attendance, the number of guests dropped by more than 68 % year-on-year, number of foreigners by up to 86 %.

    In June 2020, 193.468 persons were accommodated in tourism establishments in the SR, which was by five time more visitors than in May 2020, however, attendance significantly lagged behind the situation in June 2019.

    The number of guests was lower by 68,3 %, year-on-year. The visitors spent 579.610 nights in the establishments which was a lower number by 63,2 %, compared with June 2019.

    The visitors in the whole SR were in particular, domestic visitors, for the third consecutive month, in June their number represented 82,5 % of the total number of accommodated.

    There is still only minimal attendance of foreigners, in hotels, boarding houses and other accommodation establishments only 33,8 thous. foreign visitors were registered. In the corresponding period last year, there were 242,4 thous. foreign visitors.

    Among the regions of Slovakia, the most significant year-on-year decrease of guests was recorded in the region of Bratislava by 82,8 %. For a long time, foreigners make up the majority of visitors, whose number was lower by more than 90 %.

    The most visited regions of Slovakia- Žilina and Prešov regions- recorded a year-on-year drop in the number of the accommodated persons approximately by 60 %.

    In June, on average, visitors spent 3 nights in accommodation establishments in the SR, of which domestic visitors 3,1 and foreign visitors 2,3 nights.

  • Air Dolomiti new flight from Forlì to Munich starting December 1st

    Air Dolomiti new flight from Forlì to Munich starting December 1st

    Air Dolomiti announces a new flight that will connect Forlì to Munich. The airline will connect the two areas offering passengers a wide choice among the international flights offered by the Lufthansa network.

    From December 1st Forlì will be able to benefit from multi-weekly Lufthansa codeshare frequencies, operated from Monday to Friday, with the following flights: 

    • Monday, Wednesday and Friday: Munich – Forlì: 08:00 – 09:10; Forlì – Munich: 09:50 – 11:00;
    • Tuesday and Thursday: Munich – Forlì: 17:50 – 19:00; Forlì – Munich: 19:40 – 20:50.

    For the above flights the company offers fares starting from 129 € round trip, taxes and surcharges included. 

    ”The proposal for flights from Forlì to the Munich hub is a confirmation of our desire to expand our offer and guarantee travellers an increasingly composite and efficient range of alternatives – says Joerg Eberhart, President & CEO of Air Dolomiti.

  • Czechia leads in the number of card transactions made by Slovaks abroad

    Czechia leads in the number of card transactions made by Slovaks abroad

    Czech Republic, followed by Austria, are the main holiday preferences of Slovaks, a Tatra Banka ranking shows.

    The report was made on the basis of the number of credit card transactions carried out for the months of June and July, comparing this year with 2019.

    Transaction volumes in the top ten countries visited by Slovaks fell by more than 38% compared to the same month last year. 

    “For Croatia, the popular holiday home of Slovaks, we are registering a slump in transaction volumes of more than 47 percent and for Italy by as much as 80 percent,” the bank said in the report.

    After the Czech Republic and Austria, Germany is third (was fifth last year). Hungary remained fourth, Poland moved one position to sixth, as did France from 10th to ninth place. Top ten is closed by The United Kingdom, which has fallen two places compared to last year.

    Spain is not in this year’s list of top 10 countries visited by Slovaks. The Netherlands jumped five places, from last year’s 12th to seventh place in 2020.

  • HOFA’s contemporary art exhibition, ”XXI”, to open in Mykonos

    HOFA’s contemporary art exhibition, ”XXI”, to open in Mykonos

    HOFA Gallery announced the contemporary art exhibition, ”XXI”, will make its long-awaited arrival in Mykonos this summer.

    Launching on 27 August in the heart of Mykonos Town, it will be the first time artists of this calibre have ever been exhibited together on the island, with the likes of Kaws, Banksy, Damien Hirst, George Condo and Jeff Koons headlining the exclusive show.

    ”XXI” will also be available to all virtually via HOFA Gallery’s website.

    Hosted at HOFA’s new gallery space located a stone’s throw from the famous port of Mykonos and prestigious destinations such as Nobu, the Belvedere, and the new Scorpios Restaurant, ”XXI” promises to be a highlight of the summer calendar.

    Artworks by elite international artists including Anthony James, Zhuang Hong Yi, Adam Parker Smith, and Daniel Arsham, among others, will also be featured as part of the ”XXI” exhibition portfolio, valued at over $1M (USD) collectively.

  • Wizz Air second UK base at Doncaster Sheffield Airport

    Wizz Air second UK base at Doncaster Sheffield Airport

    Wizz Air announced a new base at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, which will be the second base for Wizz Air UK, the group’s UK-registered and based airline, alongside London Luton.

    The airline will allocate one Airbus A320 aircraft to the Yorkshire airport, and will launch seven new routes to add to its existing Doncaster Sheffield network of ten routes.

    Wizz Air’s first flight from Doncaster Sheffield Airport took off over 14 years ago, and since then the company has grown to be the airport’s largest carrier, with over 1 million passengers every year flying on the airline’s ultra-low central and eastern European routes.

    With the creation of a new base at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, Wizz Air will launch new connections to destinations including the Spanish cities of Alicante and Malaga, Larnaca in Cyprus, Faro in Portugal, Lublin in Poland, Kosice in Slovakia and Suceava in Romania.

    The creation of a new Wizz Air UK base will increase the annual capacity of Doncaster Sheffield Airport by 150.000 seats.

    Wizz Air will create over 36 direct jobs and over 110 indirect jobs in the Doncaster area.

    With the allocation of this aircraft, Wizz Air now has 11 aircraft permanently based in the UK, and the addition of these new routes from Doncaster Sheffield means the airline has almost 1.8 million seats on sale on its 107 routes from the UK for the remainder of 2020.

    The creation of this new base also follows on from Wizz Air’s recent announcements of new bases in Bacău, Dortmund, Lviv, Larnaca, Milan-Malpensa, Tirana, Saint Petersburg and the launch of over 200 new routes across the network since April 2020.

  • Overnight stays of tourists in Prague dropped by 94.9% on Q2 2020

    Overnight stays of tourists in Prague dropped by 94.9% on Q2 2020

    In the Q2 2020, the total number of guests in collective accommodation establishments decreased by 82.9%, year-on-year, and the number of overnight stays decreased by 81.7%.

    In April, the number of guests slumped by 98.9%, in May by 94.1%, and in June the number of accommodated guests decreased by 60.8%.

    The number of overnight stays of guests in collective accommodation establishments reached 2.6 million nights in total in the Q2 2020, which was by 81.7% less compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

    To put it in absolute numbers, it was a decrease by 11.5 million nights. The number of overnight stays of guests from the Czech Republic decreased to a third (by 66.7%) and the number of overnight stays of guests from abroad decreased by 96.2%.

    In total, 988 thousand guests accommodated in collective accommodation establishments in the Q2 2020, which was a decrease by 82.9%. Compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, it was a decrease by 4.8 million guests.

    A ban on travelling, closure of borders and also of accommodation establishments resulted in a drop of guests from the Czech Republic to the level of 30.4% of the last year´s result. The restrictions were reflected even much more in numbers of guests from abroad, only 4.3% of foreigners accommodated compared to the corresponding period of 2019.

    Prague registered the biggest decrease

    As for the slump of the number of guests in relation to the coronavirus crisis, the most affected region was the Capital City of Prague (Hl. m. Praha Region).

    The decrease of the number of the accommodated in Prague was 93.6% and the number of overnight stays dropped by 94.9%.

    Accommodation providers in the Karlovarský Region also missed over one million nights that guests did not spent there. The number of guests in collective accommodation establishments decreased nationwide in all regions of the Czech Republic.

    Restrictions of international movements of persons influenced inbound tourism and affected all source foreign markets.

    The numbers of both arrivals and overnight stays decreased by over 90% as for guests from all surveyed countries, except for Slovakia. The number of guests from Slovakia decreased by 84.1%. In Czechia, e.g. 50 thousand Germans accommodated, i.e. by 91.2% less than in the previous year.

  • Only 53.000 passengers travelled with Austrian Airlines in Q2 2020

    Only 53.000 passengers travelled with Austrian Airlines in Q2 2020

    Whereas in the previous year the airline carried around four million passengers between April and June, this figure was only 53.000 in 2020.

    As a result of the coronavirus crisis and the cessation of Austrian Airlines‘ flight operations for a period of close to three months, Austria’s national carrier generated adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (adjusted EBIT) of minus EUR 99 million in the second quarter of 2020, down from positive results of EUR 46 million in the prior-year quarter.

    Accordingly, the adjusted EBIT for the first half of 2020 equaled minus EUR 235 million. The number of passengers carried by Austrian Airlines fell by 70 percent to around 2 million due to the pandemic.

    With the exception of humanitarian cargo flights, the second quarter consisted of practically only two weeks of minimum operations in June.

    Revenue slumped by 94 percent to EUR 35 million

    During the same period, total revenues fell by 90 percent to EUR 59 million (Q2 2019: EUR 610 million).

    Total expenses for the same period amounted to EUR 158 million, a decrease of 72 percent (Q2 2019: EUR 565 million) compared with the same quarter of the previous year.

    Adjusted EBIT ultimately amounted to EUR -99 million in the second quarter (Q2 2019: EUR 46 million).

  • Hungary: Number of tourism nights fell by 75% in June

    Hungary: Number of tourism nights fell by 75% in June

    In June 2020, as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, international tourists spent 93% and domestic tourists 59% fewer tourism nights in commercial accommodation establishments (hotels, boarding houses, camping sites, bungalow complexes and community hostels) compared to the same period of the previous year.

    87% of all tourism nights were spent by domestic guests. Total gross sales revenues declined by 77% at current prices in commercial accommodation establishments.

    Due to the lifting of epidemiological restrictions at the end of May, the number of domestic tourism nights increased dynamically in June to more than fourfold compared to the previous month.

    The number of foreign arrivals and tourism nights both fell by 93%, with 41 thousand guests spending 101 thousand tourism nights in accommodation establishments.

    The number of nights in boarding houses reached one-fifth of the value measured in the same month of the previous year, while in other accommodation types it was between 3% and 14%.

    The largest decrease (98%) took place in Budapest. At Lake Balaton, less than a tenth of the previous year’s turnover was realized.

    285 thousand domestic guests (60% decrease) spent 672 thousand tourism nights (59% decrease), with the latter falling most in community hostels and least in boarding houses.

  • Ryanair restored over 60% of normal flight schedules from 1st August

    Ryanair restored over 60% of normal flight schedules from 1st August

    Ryanair announced it has restored over 60% of normal flight schedules from 1st August, following the successful resumption of its services at the end of June.

    Throughout July, Ryanair have flown 4.4 million customers to destinations across Europe.

    As Europe’s skies get busier and traveller confidence returns, Ryanair will continue to increase its flight frequencies throughout August with more than 1.600 routes and over 11.000 weekly flights across its network.

    The airline encourages all passengers to observe the healthy flying measures it has had in place since mid-May, including the mandatory use of facemasks and a reduced in-flight cashless service.

    Ryanair has launched a seat sale with fares available from just €19.99, for travel one way, only available on the Ryanair.com website. 

  • Hotels in Romania record all-time low figures in 2020

    Hotels in Romania record all-time low figures in 2020

    A survey, prepared by Cushman & Wakefield in partnership with FIHR, targeting Romanian hoteliers was launched in April 2020 to understand the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic holds on the commercial lodging industry.

    The survey asses the ways in which business have been affected while identifying the critical factors to prevail from the crisis.

    The first cases of the coronavirus in Romania were announced on the 26th of February 2020, causing the government to call for a state of emergency by March 14 and restrict all international travel.

    While the sector recorded a 5% growth in overnight stays in 2019 compared to 2018, the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak and consequent government restrictions caused an unprecedent crisis for the industry.

    Taking into consideration the current market conditions and limited governmental support provided, 80% of hotels indicated being able to financially survive up to fourth months under the crisis conditions.

    Given that the survey was conducted between the months of April and May and that demand has not yet returned, the survival threshold for the majority of hotels will be reached in August. Although considerable efforts have been made by hoteliers to reduce operational costs, governmental support is urgently needed to protect employment in the hospitality sector.

    Similar to other countries across CEE, COVID-19 required hotels in Romania to shift priorities towards reducing overall operational expenses alongside sales & marketing costs in parallel to managing the influx of booking cancellations.

    On a Human Resource perspective, 80% of respondents focused on utilizing the subsidized leave provided by the government to address the COVID-19 crisis.

    Overall, Romanian hoteliers** revealed the actions taken towards diminishing the headcount to be positioned above average in CEE with hoteliers having reduced staff by 29% compared to a 24% average across CEE.

    Despite borders having reopened to the European Union as of June 1st, the difficult H1 calls for further staff reductions with combined redundancies reaching 38%.

    Government support leaving hoteliers wanting more

    Romanian hotel respondents expressed the highest level of dissatisfaction amongst other CEE countries with 85% of hoteliers stating unclear information being communicated by national authorities.

    Despite the satisfaction level for governmental support being relatively low, it is recorded to be higher than other CEE countries with 15% of hoteliers** being satisfied compared to 10% in other countries.

    As hotels reopen and prepare themselves for a road towards recovery, uncertainty remains on the ability to benefit from the support put forward by the government.

    Only 25% of hoteliers indicated having a clear understanding on how to be granted with access to the proposed support, while the vast majority remains unsatisfied with the ease of accessibility to such aid.

    While in many other countries governments already announced a specific help to tourism and hotel sector, for example direct financial grants in the Czech Republic, travel vouchers in Poland and aggressive campaigns promoting domestic tourism in Germany, there has been limited help to Romanian hotels so far.

    The road towards recovery

    In the weeks between April 24th and May 25th, 75% of hoteliers expressed being either ready or extremely ready to reopen their properties, with 87% being confident on being able to ensure the safety of both guests and employees.

    As hotels have reopened and others continue to prepare for reopening, hoteliers in Romania have expressed placing the safety of guests and employees at the heart of their strategies towards recovery.

    With COVID-19 causing major concerns among travellers and hotel personnel, the vast majority of respondents indicated being in favour of a new health and safety certification being established in Romania.

    Looking ahead

    The opening of European borders and lifting of travel restrictions has enabled the majority of hotels to re-open and enter the recovery phase despite the limited support provided by authorities.

    While very soft demand remains of most concern, hoteliers will also face challenge caused by increasing supply with several notable additions expected to open throughout the summer season.

    In comparison with other markets in CEE, Romanian hotels are less depended on international demand with nearly 80% of arrivals being domestic. While this factor will certainly help with the recovery, the slow anticipated return of business travel remains a concern, due to corporate demand acting as a major driver of occupancy in Romania.

    Nonetheless, multinational companies have recently expressed interest in relocating to Romania which will contribute towards boosting business demand on the medium to long term.

    In addition, while likely to primarily impact hotels in Bucharest, the European Football Championship planned for next year is hoped to have a positive impact on hotel performances and mark the recovery process towards driving healthy occupancy and ADR levels.

    The long-term outlook for the Romanian hotel sector remains positive, underpinned by the healthy tourism growth in recent years as well as continuous attractiveness of the country for international businesses, driving corporate and conference demand.

    Nevertheless, according to Oxford Economics, the number of nights in paid accommodations in Bucharest is expected to reach pre-crisis levels only between 2023 and 2024, but show a healthy growth in the following years.

  • LOT to launch another direct flight from Poland to Budapest (Hungary)

    LOT to launch another direct flight from Poland to Budapest (Hungary)

    LOT will launch at the end of August another direct flight between Poland and Hungary. Flights on Wrocław-Budapest route will be operated initially once per week by LOT’s Bombardiers Q400.

    Tickets are already available for sale.

    Starting from 24 August, LOT’s flights between Wrocław and the capital of Hungary will have the following timetable:

    LO 2535 WRO-BUD 01:30 p.m. – 02:45 p.m. Mondays

    LO 2536 BUD-WRO 03:35 p.m. – 04:50 p.m. Mondays

    Increase frequency of the flights from September

    Starting from September this year, Poland’s flag-carrier will increase the frequency of the flights on regular European routes, offering several flights per week to Larnaca or Nice, as well as a dozen or so flights to, among other destinations, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and London.

    At the same time, the frequency of flights to Brussels, Prague, Budapest and Vilnius will increase to nearly twenty per week.

    In total, LOT offers more than 130 connections to over 70 destinations.