New disturbances in the tourism sector can be expected if there are about 50 million Russians who travel to the most visited tourist countries every year.
As soon as the tourism sector was relieved of the two-year crisis caused by the pandemic and reservations began to arrive, the latest Russian-Ukrainian crisis has brought unrest again, Politika writes.
In January, according to a study by the European Travel Commission, arrangement reservations in the European Union increased by 280 percent, and although only one percent of those who paid for accommodation and transportation, the recovery seemed to begin.
At this moment, the situation is completely different. In the first few days since the beginning of this crisis, according to data from domestic agencies, travelers have almost stopped being interested in travel. There are more and more people who think that we should wait until the situation calms down, because there are many unknowns and uncertainties, and these are not the conditions under which trips are planned.
The director of Utah, Aleksandar Senicic, says that the Ukrainian crisis is not yet affecting our citizens at the moment, but that everything depends on whether it will end soon.
“Indirectly, it will certainly have an impact. First of all, we should keep in mind that about 50 million Russians travel to almost all destinations a year, and if there are mass cancellations of reservations, we can expect some disturbances. They had already reserved huge capacities in Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Montenegro, but also in Abania and on the French Riviera, and now the question is whether it will stay that way, whether Russian tourists will go to these destinations after the crisis. There may be price reductions, but that is now ungrateful to predict. The most important thing is that the situation calms down and stabilizes.
When it comes to certificates, he states that the situation is calm, that it is easier to get out of the red zones and that it is certain that we will travel easier.
“A lot of time has passed, people have got used to it and now it is only important to follow the data and conditions set by the countries they travel to, so that there would be no surprises. Most of them accept all vaccines, although there are countries that have not yet harmonized those regulations “, explains Seničić.
Research by the European Travel Commission shows that Europeans hope that travel without restrictions will be possible in a few months, which is why they are still delaying booking reservations.
By the way, most of our citizens travel to Greece during the summer, and it will be the same this season, and the Greek government has announced that it will consider introducing simpler rules and health protocols that passengers must respect in order to enter and stay in Greece, Biznis writes.
