2014 was a year when hotel industry of Europe reached another record in terms of international tourist arrivals. For this year, ETC (European Travel Commission) forecasts even better results and long-term growth of the sector.
Last year, most regions in Europe reported faster growth than average by approximately 4%. The only exception was recorded in Eastern Europe. Among key factors of the growth experts mention recovery of main source markets, more popular off-season travels, and various promotional activities that helped the region get another successful year. On the other hand, after five consecutive years of growth, European hotel industry is expected to keep growing at slower pace. For 2015, the forecasted growth estimates between 2 and 3%.
In 2014, European region was visited approximately 588 million times. That is 22 million visits more than in 2013. In total, the growth estimated 4%, which is 2.4% higher than the expected growth rate for 2010-2025. Two in three destinations posted the growth of higher than 4%, with some destinations reaching tremendous results like Iceland (+24%), Latvia (+15%), or Serbia (+12%). Other destinations with high growth include Czech Republic and Romania, which enjoyed the growth of 11%; Greece, which managed to reach the growth of 22% thanks to recovery of business travel; Spain, Slovenia, and Croatia (+9%, +6%, and +5% respectively).