International flights to European destinations in July and August reached less than 40% of pre-pandemic levels. The countries with the fewest tourists were France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The countries that did the worst were those that relied most on tourism, such as France and Italy, and those that imposed the most complex and drastic travel restrictions, such as the United Kingdom, which only achieved 14.3% compared to the level recorded in the same period in 2019.
Greece was the winning country in the peak months of this summer season, reaching 86% of arrivals in 2019, the study conducted by ForwardKeys revealed. Cyprus gained 64.5%, Turkey 62% and Iceland 61.8%. The statistics showed an improvement over last year's level of 26.6%, when - due to the Covid-19 pandemic - it was necessary to impose travel restrictions.
The outlook is equally bleak, as the number of bookings has dwindled towards the end of the season.
Greece and Iceland were among the first countries to say that they would accept visitors who had been completely vaccinated and / or could have tested negative for PCR or demonstrated recovery after Covid-19.
With the exception of low-cost carriers, intra-European flights accounted for 71.4% of arrivals, compared to 57.1%, a figure recorded in 2019. The relative disappearance of passengers who prefer long-distance flights, who stay longer in that destination, more and focuses its attention on cities and tourist attractions, it has been highlighted in the rankings of the best and weakest local destinations.
The number of travelers who chose London as their holiday destination was extremely small, with London reaching the bottom of the list of the busiest European cities, making only 14.2% of arrivals in 2019. At the top of the list is Palma, which recorded 71.5 % of the levels in 2019 and Athens, the gateway to the Greek islands, with 70.2%.
Leisure destinations were the most popular destinations.
The next cities, with the best performances, were Istanbul - 56.5%, Lisbon - 43.5%, Madrid - 42.4%, Paris - 31.2%, Barcelona - 31.1%, Amsterdam - 30.7% and Rome - 24.2%.
The leisure destinations with the most tourists were Heraklion and Antalya, which exceeded the pre-pandemic levels by 5.8% and 0.5% respectively. They were followed by Thessaloniki - 98.3%, Ibiza - 91.8%, Larnaca - 73.7% and Palma - 72.5%. Portugal fell sharply in June when Britain put the country on the yellow list. Spain also had fewer tourists at the end of July, when Germany warned against all but the essentials.