The Russia-Ukraine conflict will probably lead to a detrimental effect on tourism sector.
With flights cancelled, air space shut down due to the conflict tourism in the meantime has come to a halt in many parts of the globe, according to sources.
Over 10 airlines stopped flying there after the United States warnings of an attack by Russian forces surrounded Ukraine’s borders. Countries like India, Germany, Canada, France, the USA, Britain and more suspended their flights to Ukraine as a precautionary measure. Russia also closed some of its airspaces to offer safety to civil aviation flights, while Ukraine shut down for air traffic.
Turkey’s Bookings from Ukraine and Russia ‘Turned off’
The first, and probably most obvious destination set to feel the effects of the conflict, is Turkey. Just several days ago Turkish stakeholders were optimistic, expecting the return of pre-Covid figures in the tourism industry.
But now, it seems that these predictions were premature. While the authorities are not worried, according to the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, bookings from Russia and Ukraine have virtually “turned off” due to the war in Ukraine.
“Russia and Ukraine are among the main source markets for Turkey’s tourist destinations. Negative consequences for the sector are inevitable,” the president of the Association, Firuz Baglıkaya, noted. According to him, the current situation “makes tourism professionals extremely nervous”.
The longer the military situation lasts, the longer air traffic is closed, the more the tourism sector will suffer. And thus, the optimistic plans for 2022 are not destined to come true.
Already now experts expect a loss of 1 million tourists from Ukraine and at the same time the inevitable economic losses of the country. The worst-case scenario, however, estimates a loss of 4-5 million tourists from both Russia and Ukraine, resulting in a loss of $5 billion in revenues.
Egypt Worried about the War Impact
Another country destined to feel the impact of the war in Ukraine is Egypt. According to experts, the conflict is a major red flag for Egypt’s tourism sector.
“If the war starts, then there will be no tourism at all,” Ali Okda, CEO of Meeting Point Egypt, a travel company focused on the Russian market, noted just before the invasion.
He added that other issues include tourist planes not being able to take off from Ukraine, its airspace being closed to civil aviation, and insurance companies not being willing to insure planes arriving from Ukraine or Russia.
The decline was also confirmed by hoteliers. According to Savoy Hotels, more than 20,000 Russian tourists a week used to visit Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada. However, that figure has now dropped to 10,000.
The same tourist destinations have recently received between 6,000 and 8,000 tourists a week from Ukraine, while before the clashes there were 40,000 of them.
As in the case of Turkey, Ukraine and Russia are important source markets for Egypt. The former consider the destination their second favorite travel target, while Russian inflow has been rising steadily since the crash of the Russian passenger plane over Sinai in 2015.
