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First Results of European Tourism in 2013

Results of three quarters of 2013 unleash strong performance of European tourism in general, mostly thanks to permanently high level of international arrivals. According to the report “European Tourism in 2013 – Trends & Prospects”, prepared by ETC, this year European tourism industry will achieve new maximum levels of demand as the number of tourist arrivals keeps growing.

During first six to eight months of 2013, vast majority of 32 European destinations posted increase in the number of tourists. During summer, all largest destinations got gains in the number of international arrivals – Spain hotels +5%, UK hotels +6%, and hotels in Italy +3%. At the same time, Scandinavian hotels posted flat results, and some destinations like Belgium and Cyprus posted declines in the number of visitors (-2% and -5% respectively). Travellers are mostly concerned about cost these days, and so they prefer to choose shorter trips. One of rare destinations, where the number of nights has grown, is Bulgaria – here the growth estimated +6% in arrivals and +8% in overnights.

If talking about main travel source markets, travel from US and Germany remains on same high level, while travel from the UK and France went up. If talking about emerging markets, the growth of travel demand from Russia is the most noticeable. China and India are, certainly, also valuable sources of visitors – growing middle class is very interested in making European vacations. Finally, Japan shows signs of recovery as a tourist source market, but instable economic situation in the country is one of the biggest concerns.

Targeted strategies may become one of main reasons for growth in the region. For example, in Ireland, there is “The Gathering Ireland” strategy that targets Irish diaspora worldwide (around 70 million of people), while Germany tries to attract mostly young travellers. Other countries try to use notable events to draw attraction of travellers.

02.12.2013

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