However, some regional experts also see the positive side of decreasing reliance on tourism from Russia in particular. The loss of Russian and Ukrainian tourists, who spent a combined 45 billion US dollars per year prior to the Covid-19 pandemic (around eight per cent of the global total), will impact many countries in emerging Europe. Poland tops Emerging Europe’s first Travel Competitiveness Index.The way we travel is changing, and emerging Europe is well placed to take advantage.EU visa bans for Russian tourists: Time to follow emerging Europe’s example.Hardly had the Covid-19 pandemic abated than Russia invaded Ukraine, providing the travel and tourism sector throughout emerging Europe with yet another challenge.Īccording to the Economist Intelligence Unit, the war will affect Europe’s tourism industry in four ways: a loss of Russian and Ukrainian tourists restrictions on airlines and use of airspace higher food and fuel costs and a big hit to traveler confidence and disposable incomes.

Between them, Russian and Ukrainian tourists usually spend around 45 billion US dollars per year on outbound travel, much of it in the countries of emerging Europe. Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine, while and first and foremost a humanitarian tragedy, has caused widespread economic damage across the globe, not least in travel and tourism.

Strategic war in europe