The tourism sector in Estonia and Lithuania is significantly improving, according to the Latvian Radio report.
The same revealed that the tourism sector in both Baltic States had ameliorated notably in the summer peak season, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
In an interview for Latvian Radio, the executive director of the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association, Egle Ližaitīte, explained that the war in Ukraine has had a great impact on the travel and tourism sector while stressing that due to such a situation, many groups bookings have been cancelled, during the spring as summer season amid concerns of travelling to Easter Europe in general.
“The results of the year do not look very promising so far. For now, we are only happy about June and July. We hope that maybe in August, demand will reach pre-pandemic levels. Prices in hotels are currently either lower than before the pandemic or at the same level as before the pandemic,” Ližaitīte pointed out in this regard.
However, according to the report, the future is challenging due to the energy price crisis as well as rising inflation which is affecting clients as well as providers of tourist services.
In this regard, the Executive Director of the Estonian Hotel and Restaurant Association, Killu Maidla, stressed that costs have clearly surged in the last two years, particularly in the last six months; however, it has not marked a significant impact on the final price.
“It is a difficult situation, and the question is how much of a price increase the consumer is willing to accept. And I see that because of this fear, several restaurants raise their prices quite moderately, and they pay for it from their profits,” Maidla pointed out.
According to the figures published by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Lithuania has registered 1,180,648 cases of COVID-19 infection since the start of the pandemic, while 9,207 people have died during the same period.
In addition, the figures provided by WHO also show that as of July 10, a total of 4,476,841 COVID vaccine doses have been administered in this country.
Besides, in May, authorities in Lithuania announced that they abolished all COVID-related restrictions imposed to contain the virus’ further spread, thus facilitating the travel process for all travellers from other countries, which also led to an increase in the number of international arrivals.
At the same time, the figures provided by WHO also show that Estonia has also been highly affected by the spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants. WHO figures show that the country registered a total of 586,399 cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,620 deaths since the start of the Coronavirus outbreak.
On June 16, Estonia lifted all its COVID restrictions, opening its doors to a large number of travellers from third countries.
The abolishment of the restrictions by both countries’ authorities led to a significant increase in the number of international travellers, thus helping the tourism sector recover from the damages caused by the virus.