EU Tourism Displays Solid Recovery Signs - topped at 1.8bn nights in 2021.

Tourism in European countries has begun the process of recovery after nearly two years of sluggish capacity.

According to figures from Eurostat, the European stats provider, Eurostat, the number of nights spent in tourist facilities has exceeded 1.8 billion, which is 27 percent higher than in 2020 and 37 percent lower than in 2019, in which no COVID-19 restrictions were in place, visaoperations.com reports.

The number of night-time hours spent by non-residents amounted to 600 million. The number of nights occupied by residents amounted to 1.1 billion, as compared to the 2020 figures.

Positive signs of recovery in tourism were observed across Greece, Spain, Croatia, and Spain, where all three countries saw an increase of more than 70 percent for the total number of nights in accommodation for tourists. On the other side of the spectrum are Latvia, Slovakia, and Austria which saw sharp decreases in the range of 18 percent cent. Latvia is also a stricken country, comparing the number of nights that were spent in 2021 with the year prior to the outbreak of 2019 as well as Slovakia, Malta, and Hungary which saw decreases that exceeded 50 percent. Denmark as well as the Netherlands were the two countries with the highest scores in the issue, saw decreases that were less than 20 percent.

The most important finding from Eurostat's figures is that guests who are not residents of the country stayed longer nights in 2021 than prior years, bringing the percentages between 29 and 32 percentage points from 2020. percent in 2021. This is an increase of 3 percent. The increase was because of the proportion that guests are from non- EU nations, and increased from 21 percent at the end of 2020 and increased to 24 percent in 2021. Meanwhile, the percentage of guests from the other countries of Europe and the world remained the same, which was 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

Comparing 2021's numbers to the pre-pandemic data, EU countries show a decline in visitors from outside the EU. Latvia, Slovakia, and Czechia were among the worst hit and saw a drop of over 75 percent. Croatia, as well as Luxembourg, were among the countries that were least affected, registering drops that were less than 45 percent. Eurostat's prior figures confirm the growth of the travel and tourism industry, which was deeply damaged by the COVID-19 virus. A report released at the beginning of January, by the agency indicates that the number of commercial flights within the EU rose by 130 percent by 2021.

Additionally, the same source indicates 383 720 flights commercially operating in December 2021. That's 129.7 percent higher than at the same period in the year prior when 166,990 flights were conducted and 24 percent lower than the December of 2019. (504,270).