The first overview briefing from our study “Relaunching transport and tourism in EU after COVID-19" have been published. This study we do together with Università degli Studi Roma Tre and Polis for the European Parliament. The key finding for this first overview are:
- Commuting and shopping patterns in urban areas have changed with increased walking, cycling, car travel, and online shopping, at the expense of public transport use. Long distance travel declined drastically, leading to revenue and job losses in the transport and tourism sectors and those dependent on them (e.g. industrial and retail sectors).
- The impact on freight transport has been modest but depends on the future direction the economy takes.
- The main operational challenge facing the transport and tourism industry has been to ensure the health of personnel and passengers, while securing an adequate supply of services.
- The EU provides crucial assistance to citizens, governments and the transport and tourism industry so that they can emerge better placed to achieve sustainability and resilience following the present crisis.
- The EU has provided guidelines, legislation and financial support to mitigate virus spread, maintain essential cross-border services and protect the single market.
- The industries’ recovery relies on the vaccination campaign’s successful roll-out, and on financial support and policy actions that will help the industry to adapt to economic situation
See the full report here.