Lisbon has risen to the top of the list of the most reserved European cities during the first half of June, followed by Paris and Amsterdam. Athens, Rome and Madrid come next in the list.
Lisbon has soared to the top of the list this year compared to sitting close to the bottom in ninth place in 2019.
Portugal has been one of the first countries to establish enhanced hygiene and safety protocols to welcome tourists and has one of the top testing rates to control transmission.
Barcelona has dropped to ninth (5th in 2019), while London has dropped to 10th after holding 1st place in 2019. The British capital has plummeted at the bottom of the top ten reserved destinations, behind other cities such as Frankfurt (7th) and Vienna (8th).
Last year the UK attracted more than 40 million overseas visitors. Data from the World Travel & Tourism Council and ForwardKeys suspects that if the UK government delays announcing the next steps for reopening the country, including the removal of barriers such as quarantine and establishing ‘air corridors’, there could be a serious negative impact on the Travel and Tourism sector.
New flight bookings for all international future departures from the EU slumped by 80.2% in the first half of June 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, recovering from a hefty 92.3% decline in May.
