As summer is now over, this month we will look at some data about the tourist season, to see how it went across Europe.

Despite the lifting of travel restrictions in many countries, the Covid-19 pandemic had a heavy impact on the tourism sector. According to UNWTO, Europe was the second-hardest hit of all global regions, with a 66% decline in tourist arrivals in the first half of 2020.

The travel limitations for international arrivals in many countries discouraged most travelers to spend their summer holidays abroad.

For example, France launched the campaign #cetetejevisitelafrance (this year I’m visiting France) in order to promote domestic tourism, and it worked: among the 53% of French people who travelled in July and August, 94% have remained in France.

Other countries provided incentives to encourage people to travel. For example, Italy introduced the “Bonus Vacanze” (holiday bonus) which was supposed to provide a financial incentive for people with a revenue below 40,000 euros.

Despite what we could think, many destinations still experienced overcrowding!

For example, this year the natural sites of Lac de Sainte Croix and Gorges du Verdon in Southern France saw an unprecedented flow of tourists in search of nature, big spaces and open air.

This impacted the natural ecosystem, which has been damaged by the flow and behavior of big numbers of visitors.

What will the rest of 2020 look like from a tourism point of view?