Trying to survive

The crisis brought about by the new coronavirus pandemic has hit the Slovak tourism industry hard. In April, 1,085 companies and 771 self-employed persons operated in Slovakia in the field of travel agencies and related activities, according to an analysis done by the consulting company Bisnode, which concluded that many of these companies will be forced to close their businesses as they do not have major financial reserves. "Their future is very uncertain and depends not only on how the pandemic develops, but also on how quickly the right conditions for travel will be created or restored," said company analyst Petra Štěpánová.

Of the 1,085 companies currently doing business in tourism, travel agencies have the largest share, almost half. The same is true in the case of self-employed people working in tourism. Since the beginning of this year, according to the analysis, a total of 20 entities have closed their tourism businesses, of which seven were companies and 13 were self-employed.