Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine and the closure of airspace to Russian aircraft have already affected Lithuania’s tourism sectors, its representatives have said.
“Reservations are being cancelled, especially from distant countries, as well as from so-called old Europe. Practically, the May trips to our region have been cancelled,” Zydre Gaveliene, head of the National Association of Tourism Business, has said.
“It is difficult to quantify the volumes and the losses so far, but May used to be the opening of the Lithuanian tourist season, which usually lasted for about five months. We have already lost around 20-25%,” she added.
Lithuanians are also less willing to plan summer holidays at the moment, according to Jolita Maslauskaite-Targonskiene, head of Best Servis travel agency. Summer travel sales are currently down by around 80%.
“We used to have a lot of bookings around this time. For now, people are monitoring the situation,” Maslauskaite-Targonskiene said.
But according to Gaveliene, inbound tourism has more challenges than outbound tourism in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
“With a war of this magnitude, the reality is that outbound tourism is running on its own course for now,” she said. “All the players in the tourism ecosystem – hotels, airlines, travel agencies – are encouraging each other by saying that there is no need to hold back the economy.”
“There is no panic or cancellations, except in the no-fly region,” Gaveliene added.
According to her, Lithuanian people should also communicate on social media that their country is safe for tourism.
“Although we are members of NATO and the EU, we are geographically very close to the events of the war, and if we don’t communicate effectively, our region is bound to suffer heavy losses and will need a great deal of help from the state,” she said. (LRT/Business World Magazine)