The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volume and spatial breakdown of tourist flow in Finland and Estonia in 2020

Abstract

Nowadays international tourism is among the sectors of the world economy most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study is to identify differences in the dynamics of tourist flow in Finland and Estonia during the first eight months of 2020 compared to 2019, as well as changes in the structure of incoming tourist flow to these countries. Particular interest in studying the tourist flows of Finland and Estonia is due to the fact that over the past two decades they have been among the top ten countries in the world in terms of outbound tourism of Russians, as well as among the leaders in this indicator among the EU States, which is directly related to their neighboring position with Russia. Tourism in Estonia and Finland experienced a rather difficult period of spring quarantine, and its recovery in the summer began with domestic tourism. There has also been an increase in the incoming tourist flow. At the same time, the best dynamics were demonstrated by the tourist flow from neighboring countries of the European Union, the border with which was partially opened for tourists in the summer of 2020. Adjacent territories of neighboring countries are the part of the cross-border tourist and recreational regions, within which tourist flows were restored faster than tourist exchange with other, geographically more remote States. This conclusion gives hope for a fairly rapid recovery of cross-border tourist exchange between Russia and neighboring countries after the “opening” of borders at the end of the pandemic.