Demand for travel from North America to Europe plummeted immediately after the Covid-19 outbreak in northern Italy, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys.

In the last week of February, Europe bookings from North America were down 68.1% year over year. That decline came amid an even larger global collapse in bookings to Europe – a 79% decrease in the last week of February.

In comparison, worldwide Europe bookings were down 23.7% from Jan. 20 (when China imposed restrictions on outbound travel) through Feb. 22 (when the Covid-19 outbreak in northern Italy began).

For Italy alone, the number of cancellations exceeded new bookings in the last month of February, ForwardKeys said.

“The arrival of the Covid-19 virus in Italy marks a new phase in the travel crisis in Europe,” said Olivier Ponti, vice president of insights for ForwardKeys. “The drop-off in bookings to Italy is even worse than we have observed in the past for some of the most disruptive events such as terror attacks. The booking behavior appears to be disproportionate, as parts of Europe other than Italy are experiencing very substantial declines in visitor interest.”