Czechs Still Eager to Travel, Egypt Remains the Most Popular Destination

Airlines and travel agencies have been hard-hit by the economic consequences brought upon by the pandemic.

Data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reveals that the Czech Republic’s airline industry has been one of the most affected by the Covid-19 crisis and restrictions.

There has been a 78% drop in passengers in the Czech Republic, according to their statistics, and this has caused a huge decline in profit and revenue of around USD 1.7 billion.

Many airlines and travel agencies have suffered and reported large losses. For example, Czech Airlines, a member of the Smartwings Group, reported an estimated decline of 90% in the year 2020, compared to 2019.

Kiwi.com announced that only half the number of people bought tickets to go abroad this year, again in comparison to 2019.

Another travel agency, Invia.cz, a huge and domestic travel agency in the Czech Republic, reported a decline from a 6.6 billion revenue during 2019 to 1 billion in 2020.

However, even with ongoing difficulties experienced by many of these companies, most are looking to make positive comebacks in the year 2021. Additionally, some reports have shown that Czechs still have an interest in going on holidays and traveling abroad.

Kiwi’s recent reports from their press release state that Egypt, in particular, remains a very popular and frequently chosen destination to travel to amongst Czechs, claiming that more people traveled there last year than 2019.

There were also reported bookings for flights to Tenerife, Barcelona, and Málaga. Bookings to London have been booked as well, but flights and travel to the UK have been stopped a few weeks ago due to the new strain of Covid-19 that has been detected there.

Invia.cz has reported that Czechs are still interested in flying to Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and again Egypt this year. Invia’s CEO, Michal Tůma, has shared his optimistic outlook and said, “our main focus at the moment is on sales of tours for summer 2021”.

Additionally, a report from November 2020 also stated that around 1,500 Czechs had still booked flights and traveled even amidst the Covid-19 crisis, mainly in Egypt, Tunisia, and Zanzibar.

Ultimately, the quicker the government accomplishes its vaccination goal to successfully combat the Covid-19 virus is, the more hope there is for normalcy to come back for the tourism and aviation industries.