Europe’s travel market Cause for optimism and caution


marked in Germany and France. However, the subsequent crisis in the eurozone had an impact. The resilience of the sector 10 years on from that crisis should give cause for optimism amid the threat of a slowdown now. The remainder of this report focuses on


technology developments in the sector. But a few other developments are worth noting first. The period 2015-17 saw a profound shift in holidaymakers from the eastern to western Mediterranean, the result of terror attacks in Tunisia and Egypt and instability


TOURISM NIGHTS, 2018 International & domestic visitor nights (million)


FIGURE 16: TOTAL


100 200 300 400 500


0 443m420m429m 467m476m* 100 84% 125m 123m116m


20 40 60 80


0 *2016 figure Source: Eurostat (excludes Turkey) 421


FIGURE 18: INTERNATIONAL VISITOR NIGHTS


100 150 200 250 300 350


50 0


301m 217m 141m 87m 103m 89m 83m 279m*


100 150 200 250 300 350


50 0


FIGURE 19: DOMESTIC VISITOR NIGHTS


333m 302m 212m 166m 69m 71m 44m 197m*


France Germany Italy Spain UK


*2016 figure Source: Eurostat, 2018


Greece Austria Poland Portugal Turkey


2% 2.5%


6% 4%


13% 14% Source: Eurostat, 2018 16% 18% 10% 14.5% 0 292


171 154


445


200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 % EU hotel bedrooms


64% 59% 50% 40% 32% 21% 71% 68% 49%


FIGURE 20: HOTEL ROOMS, BY DESTINATION


Rooms (thousand) 653


977 1,091 930 874


THE TOTAL number of tourism nights recorded in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK are surprisingly similar (Figure 16). But the relative balance of international and domestic tourist nights varies (Figure 17). Spain is the most popular destination by international nights, followed by the UK (Figure 18). Germany and France are top for domestic nights


(Figure 19). Italy has the most hotel accommodation (Figure 20)


FIGURE 17: TOURISM NIGHTS


BY INTERNATIONAL VISITORS % of total nights in hotels/ holiday accommodation


92%


in Turkey. Spain was the principal but not only beneficiary. The pendulum swung back in 2018-19 after the terror threat subsided, though it sadly has not gone. New EU Package Travel Regulations, in


force since mid-2018, near doubled the size of the EU ‘package market’ from about a quarter of international holidays to half, extending the liabilities of traditional tour operators to OTAs and others. The full impact of this has yet to become apparent. Congestion has become a serious issue –


on the ground in the form of overtourism and in the air in the form of air traffic delays. This is feeding into demands for taxes on tourism which the sector may do better to embrace and try to shape rather than simply reject. Congestion at certain airports has become


acute. Enhanced security scanners, biometric ID and other technologies are on the way, but no sooner do processes advance than new threats invariably supersede the old.


12 | Travel Weekly Europe Report 2019


France Germany Italy Spain


Austria UK


Netherlands Greece


France Germany Italy Spain France Germany Italy Spain


Greece UK


Austria Croatia France Germany Italy Spain


Netherlands UK


Poland Sweden UK Austria


Netherlands Greece


Croatia Portugal EU


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