In 2019, the European travel and tourism industry contributed 2.191 billions of dollars of the GDP of Europe, according to the statist. Yet, in 2020, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector was one of the most affected by the restrictive measures to contain the virus, representing 1.064 billions of dollars of European GDP. After approximately a year and a half, despite the presence of the coronavirus, Europe tries to reopen its borders and, consequently, stimulate the sector with the start of vaccination.
Before the health crisis, in 2019, the travel and tourism sector represented 10,4% of world GDP with consecutive growth in European GDP since 2012, which also reflected in job creation in Europe. There are approximately 20 years, the continent has been the main destination for international travel, statistic that, even keeping on top, kept growing. from that, in 2019, the number of international tourists who arrived in Europe was the highest in relation to other regions, representing 745 millions of travelers. (Statista, 2021). In this way, there are European countries economically dependent on the sector, for example, Croatia and Greece, since this influences other areas, as a hotel, transport, food, culture, agriculture and industry and, consequently, their employability and tax collection..
In relation to 27 European Union countries, Croatia has the highest average number of days tourists stay in the country and the highest growth in this index. Therefore, is the most economically dependent on the travel and tourism sector in Europe, even if it is not the country that receives the most tourists from the region., since this area represented 18,4% of the country's GDP in 2018, as well as cyprus (13,9%), Malta (12,7%) and Greece (8,7%). These data demonstrate the vulnerability of these countries in relation to tourism, as this represents a large part of your economy.
This positive scenario of tourism growth in Europe was quickly ruined with the arrival of COVID-19 in the region. Between the end of January and the beginning of February 2020, the first deaths from the virus occurred on the European continent. from that, restrictive measures to control the propagation of the coronavirus were started, such as social isolation and the closing of borders, mainly in March 2020, which directly affected the travel and tourism sector, especially of countries that have their economy focused on this, like Croatia and Cyprus. France, for example, despite being the biggest international tourist destination, was not affected in the same way, since its economic base is more varied than that of the aforementioned countries, counting on the participation of exports linked to the industry, technology and agriculture.
From the improvement of the health crisis with measures to combat the coronavirus, many European countries have relaxed these restrictions., like the uk. The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, stated as early as April of 2020 that the country was already overcoming the COVID-19 crisis, believing that the pandemic was coming to an end. However, this caused the increase in virus contagions and, consequently, the second wave of infection on the continent. In this way, the beginning of the recovery of the tourism sector between July and August of 2020 was frustrated, due, mainly, the resumption of restrictions on travel between September and October of the same year.
With the end of restrictions, the third wave of the virus started in the first quarter of 2021. from that, the measurements returned, but with the help of vaccination, which started in December of 2020 in most European countries, faster reopening became possible. after opening, the European Union Commission proposed the EU COVID Digital Certificate, document that proves the person's negative test, if she has already been vaccinated or if she has already recovered from the disease. With this document already approved by the Parliament of the European Union, the european citizen will be able, from the 1st of July 2021, move freely between EU countries, measure that will enable the increase of tourism between countries.
From this and the increase in the percentage of people vaccinated in Europe, many countries plan to reopen their borders to tourists in the summer of 2021, even though there are restrictions on the nationality of the traveler, such as the ban on Brazilians and Indians in most countries, What about the type of vaccine applied?, having a preference for those approved by the EMA, EU medical agency. For countries that economically depend on tourism, there is a decrease in these restrictions. For example, Croatia accepts tourists from more countries only with a negative test for COVID, regardless of vaccination status, even Brazilians, Indians and South Africans with the condition that they remain in quarantine even if they have already been vaccinated.
Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic strongly impacted tourism in Europe, slowing your growth. With restriction measures, many European countries that are economically dependent on tourism have been severely harmed.. However, in 2021 begin to finally see more positive perspectives for the future. In relation to the economic aspect, the reopening of borders for international tourists and the increase in the vaccination rate contribute to the resumption of the european travel and tourism sector. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the reopening is a good sign for tourism. Yet, the sector will only start its recovery after the end of the pandemic, it may take even longer for him to return to the level of 2019, when I employed more than 38 millions of europeans, in addition to impacting other sectors of the European economy. Lastly, this relaxation could cause a new wave of virus infections, as there are European countries with a low vaccination rate in relation to the size of their population.
By Isabela Paez Halak and Natália Yuri Kitayama
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