Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Change in Volume and Spatial Structure of the Tourist Flow in Finland and Estonia in 2020

Abstract—International tourism was among the sectors of the global economy most affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic. The aim of the study is to identify the differences in the dynamics of the tourist flow in Finland and Estonia during the first eight months of 2020 compared to 2019, as well as changes in the structure of the inbound tourist flow to these countries. The particular interest in studying tourist flows in Finland and Estonia stems from the fact that over the past two decades, they were among the top ten countries in the world in terms of the volume of outbound tourism by Russians, as well as among the leaders in this indicator among European Union countries, which is directly related to their neighboring position with Russia. Tourism in Estonia and Finland went through a rather difficult period of spring quarantine, and its recovery in the summer began with domestic tourism. There has also been an increase in the inbound tourist flow. At the same time, the best dynamics was demonstrated by the flow of tourists from neighboring countries that are EU members, the border with which for tourists was already partially open in summer 2020. The adjacent territories of neighboring countries are part of cross-border tourist and recreational regions, within which tourist flows have been recovering faster than tourist exchange with other, geographically more remote states. This conclusion gives hope for a fairly quick recovery of cross-border tourist exchange between Russia and neighboring countries after the postpandemic opening of borders.