Analytics, Covid-19, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Telecomunications, Tourism

Mailiis Ploomann, head of telecom services at Elisa, said that in the summer months, tourism was maintained by the so-called Baltic bubble. "The only tourists with a significant number of visitors came mainly from Latvia and Lithuania, but also from Finland. The number of tourists from these neighboring countries fell by less than half, but according to Elisa, two thirds fewer foreigners came from Sweden, for example," she said.

Only a quarter of the usual traffic from other parts of Europe remained and likely the biggest blow to tourism was dealt by interrupted flight connections, because Estonian tourists also had a similar pattern of behavior. "At times, the restrictions seem to have done the economy a disservice, as foreign tourists are not coming to the country, but Estonians are still prone to travel," Ploomann said.

Unlike tourists from foreign countries, the travel of Estonians did not fall as low and people mainly visited countries where it was possible and safer to go -- Latvia, Greece, Tunisia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Lithuania and Norway. "Of the neighboring countries, Sweden was feared the most, where the number of passengers was only a quarter of the usual volume. Vacation trips to Egypt, Turkey, Bulgaria or Spain were almost non-existent, volumes dropped drastically," Ploomann added.

In terms of months, the number of tourists traveling to Estonia has been declining since March, when the emergency situation was declared. According to Elisa, most tourists came to Estonia in July, but Estonians themselves traveled the most in August.