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Tourism is an inter-ministerial sector, significantly affecting the employment and development of regions. The paper aims to determine the impact of the epidemiological situation caused by the COVID-19 on the development of tourism in the regions of Slovakia based on the use of quantitative methods. Extensive travel restrictions caused a record drop in accommodation visit rate in 2020. The number of foreign visitors decreased by two-thirds year-on-year to the level of 1998. The visit rate in the Slovak Republic was mainly by domestic visitors. Despite the pandemic, in the third quarter of 2020, they exceeded last year's record numbers from the summer season. After considering the visit rate of domestic and foreign visitors, the number of visitors decreased the least year-on-year in the Žilina Region. The most significant year-on-year decrease in visitors was recorded in the Bratislava Region, where business clients were significantly absent. Gross sales decreased by almost half compared to the previous year. The highest gross sales were achieved by accommodation establishments in the Žilina Region. The number of overnight stays decreased year-on-year in all regions. However, the length of stays was significantly extended in the fourth quarter of 2020, thanks to the visit rate in spa towns.
Urbaníková et al. (Fri,) studied this question.