The number of visitors in accommodating facilities in Slovak tourism in April fell by 98.5% as a result of the restrictions against the spread of the novel coronavirus. According to the data published by the Slovak Statistics Office, the number of tourists was at a level of over 6,700, while the number was 442,000 in April 2019.
90% of tourists in April came from Slovakia. The number of foreigners who spent a night in accommodation businesses was 417 while their number was around 171,000 last year.
"Tourism is one of the hardest hit fields of the Economy. Almost all businesses had to close down and radical restrictions at both national and international levels led to the decrease by almost 100%," reports the Statistical Office.
During April, guests spent nights only in the following businesses: spa, private apartments and cottages, and guests were only students accommodated on exchange stays or business travellers. "As these were mostly long-term residents, the average length of stay more than doubled to 5.3 nights, for foreigners even to 9.1 nights," the SO noted.
Developments from April also significantly affected the numbers from the first four months of 2020, having recorded a year-on-year drop by 35.8 %. The number of overnight stays fell by almost one third.
According to the results of the survey conducted by the Central Slovakia Tourist Board and the Slovak Association of Tourism Organizations among over 150 businesses in April, more than half of service providers in Slovak destinations considered making staff redundant or have already done so. Moreover, only half of the companies had not considered closing down before the survey.
