In the final three months of this year, travel destinations in Southern Europe are getting closer to pre-pandemic levels, according to this ForwardKeys data, according to EU Helpers.
In Q4 of this year, arrivals to cities like Lisbon and Athens increased by an astounding 13%. Madrid has experienced a nine percent increase, Istanbul has had a four percent increase, and Milan has seen a two percent increase.
Over the first three quarters of this year, Athens has already shown a stunning 6% growth in tourist numbers over pre-pandemic levels, while in the same quarter, Lisbon managed to return to pre-pandemic levels.
In addition, research shows that Spain's travel industry is recovering more quickly than the rest of the world. The nation's cultural tourism is also showing signs of recovery, having returned to levels that were either reached or exceeded prior to the pandemic.
For instance, compared to the same quarter in 2019, departures to other European nations have grown by 6%.
Ponti also thinks that a lot of the southern European countries will be able to recover to their pre-pandemic levels because of the increase in air transport capacity and demand.
According to Ponti's statement, "this increase in air supply is so far met by a sustained increase in demand, which we expect will push many destinations back to pre-pandemic levels while overall volumes continue their recovery towards 2024."
Additionally, London, Dublin, and Rome are steadily rising to the top of the list of tourism locations that have been enhanced.
It is anticipated that pre-pandemic arrival figures for London (with a mere two percent decline), Dublin (also with a two percent decrease), and Rome (with a three percent decrease) will be nearly reached.
With great anticipation that the travel and tourist sector inside the European Union will make a tremendous return, maybe reaching up to 98% of the pre-pandemic levels, there is a great deal of optimism for the current year about the tourism industry's recovery.