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TOP growing European destinations – Q3 2016
International arrivals in Europe still hit on third quarter of 2016, softened by resilience in long-haul travel
The latest results from the Air Travellers’ Traffic Barometer produced by European Cities Marketing and ForwardKeys highlight that terrorist fear is still weakening arrivals in Europe for Q3 2016.
Strong decrease of international travel tempered by long haul travel
International travels dropped by -3,5 per cent while the long haul segment (excluding intra-European flows) remains resilient, slightly decreasing in travellers from Americas and Middle East.
As a result of the visa exemption for some countries in Latin America such as Colombia and Peru, Central and South America regions rose slightly by 0,5 per cent. The Middle East was impacted by the Ramadan timing effect. Asia and Oceania shrank by -3,3 per cent, likely due to growing alternative destinations to Europe and Japanese travellers concerned about European safety.
Long haul travellers top growing destinations are mainly cities of the Iberian peninsula, but German cities are also generating interest
Six cities of the Iberian Peninsula – Valencia, Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, Mallorca and Lisbon – were among the top 10 growing destinations. The steady growths of Barcelona (+9,5 per cent) and Madrid (+8,5 per cent) are noticeable by the fact that they are already among the group of most relevant destinations in terms of volume. Hamburg (+11,4 per cent) and Berlin (+6,5 per cent) demonstrate the interest that German cities are generating.
International bookings to Europe see recovery in Q4 2016 compared to previous year
International bookings for arrivals Q4 2016 as of September 30th are down -1,7 per cent. It’s better than the previous quarter, the Intra European travellers being less negative this time. The Asia and Oceania region is down by -5,5 per cent impacted by the Japanese. North America is slowing down but remains positive.
As expected, the post-referendum and cheaper British pound boosted London as a key European destination. The slight decline of -0,6 per cent is an improvement when compared with previous reports. Northern Europe and South-West Europe, along with Dubrovnik, are the fastest growing booking areas. Safety is one of the strongest perequisites that travellers demand and the rest of Europe is being affected by the fear of terrorism. All ECM members have exclusive access to the complete European Cities Marketing – ForwardKeys.
