Just after the COVID-19 has shown a downtrend, the European Union just got a chance to get its tourism sector back on track. Suddenly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has developed fear in the minds of people all across the globe, including United States citizens, to travel to the 27-nation-bloc.
As per the president of InteleTravel, James Ferrera, an online travel agency with around 7,000 travel advisors, the conflicts between Ukraine and Russia are having a significant impact on the people of America who are travelling towards Eastern Europe and well as elsewhere in the region.
Along with this, Ferrera shares the information that the decrease in the price of the ticket sales and cancellations, postponements, and lower bookings for Croatia, Czechia, Poland, and other destinations, have been confirmed for the right situation in bookings, as he also points out that these destinations, “have largely disappeared from booking data and even search data.”
Moreover, Ferrera outlined that the war is impacting all international travel, including Greece, Turkey, Isreal, and Western Europe.
Additionally, he mentioned that it had risked the destinations for the summer vacations, including Switzerland, the UK, Germany, and France, which are not near the zone where the conflicts are going on, but the psychological impact can be evident.
On the other hand, the hospitality and tourism management department director at the Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business named Mahmood Kahn, mentioned, “Cancellations of already-booked trips by Americans to Europe have already started, although many cancellations are based on psychological fear.”
He further highlighted that the war had begun just as the individual was planning summer holidays. This will affect the tourism industry, as travellers can stay away from Europe.
According to the Travel Intelligence survey, around 62 per cent of the people from the United States have listed the war in Ukraine to increase to the alongside nations as an alert for them to again think about their travel plans to Europe.