The impact of the Ukrainian war on international tourism

Aside from the most affected and deeply sympathized variable of the Ukrainian war, Human Tragedy, tourism faces a significant threat. Especially countries whose GDP heavily depends on it.

While countries are still licking the wounds of the Pandemic, the threat to safety stifles tourism recovery and foreign investment. In 2020, there were 1 billion fewer international trips with only marginal improvement in 2021, what does this mean?

For two years, millions of tourism jobs, careers, and businesses have been at a standstill in one of the world’s most popular destinations.

The destinations most affected so far (aside from Russia and Ukraine) include the Republic of Moldova with a 69% plunge in flights. (compared to 2019 levels), Slovenia (-42%), Latvia (-38%), and Finland (-36%) report from Eurocontrol. Russian bookings of outbound flights also plunged in late February and March.

This means there are more tough times ahead in the tourism industry, which directly accounts for nearly 7% of jobs in the OECD countries and is likely to be among the hardest hit – again.

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The way forward

Tourism economics predicts that domestic and short-haul travel is critical for near-term recovery, as well as the preparedness of remote destinations to host visitor segments.

It is additionally being reawakened through the revived movement of international travelers between countries where pandemic spread has become less intense.

This recovery will be largely supported by growth in domestic tourism, which will remain at approximately the same share of total visits throughout the entire forecast period as previously in 2019.