The European tourism industry was recovered only slightly after the COVID-19 pandemic, as the contract in the summer was moderated according to a report by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, released on Wednesday (EU).

In March, when the first round of lockdowns was implemented, the number of nights spent in tourist properties, such as hotels, short stays, and camping in the EU slumped 63 percent year-to-year before further declining in April.

However, the decline in the number of overnight stays has gradually diminished since May, when restrictive measures began to ease.

Around one third fewer nights spent in August than in the previous year were in the tourist travel sector.

Between January and August, there were 1.1 billion overnight visits to tourist accommodation in the EU, down 50 percent compared to last year's same period.

Although the internal EU borders were reopened in the summer months to promote the EU's tourist industry with careful steps, the external border, including the US and China, has been largely closed to the world.