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Time to Be Off

Half of the world's tourists spend their holidays in Europe. What is the state of the European tourism market? And how will it develop in the future?

The old continent is high in the popularity stakes. 484 million people went abroad either within or to Europe last year – that's one tourist in two worldwide. According to the World Tourism Organization 176 million people travelled to southern Europe, 155 million to western Europe (of those, 80 million visited France, the world's most popular destination), 92 million to Central and Eastern Europe and 56 million to northern Europe and Britain.

Photo: Powermind (Photocase)

Europe is thus a long way ahead of any other part of the world as a travel destination: Asia and Oceania had 184 million visitors last year, America, 142 million, the Middle East, 48 million and Africa, 44 million. The number of people visiting Europe, which back in 2000 was still only 396 million, has grown by about 4 percent annually and [is predicted] to rise to 717 million by 2020. Prognoses also assume, however, that eventually Europe's share of the world tourism market will fall to 45 percent and be overtaken by the Far East, where more and more Chinese travellers will go. Experts at the European Travel Commission anticipate that Europe may then become a successful trend-setter in the health and wellness tourism market, in adventure holidays and for a number of other market niches.

A Strong Euro

Currently the strong euro is proving to be a problem for tourists. Although in 2007 a record number of Americans – 13 million – visited the countries of the European Union, in Japan, Europe's second most important source of tourists, many people are refraining from long-distance travel. Overall, only Spain and Turkey have seen a big increase in tourists. For many Chinese Europe is considered a dream travel destination – although currently only two million Chinese come to Europe each year, the trend is on the up. The Europeans themselves, if they don't stay at home or visit neighbouring countries, generally tend to spend their holidays in the classic sun-and-sea countries. For the Germans (the world's number one travel nation) the top ten destinations are the United States, Egypt, Tunisia, China, Thailand, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Kenya. What is more, the Germans spend 61 billion euros a year on travel, far more than the Americans, who come in second place with a total expenditure of 48 billion euros.

Getting in the Car

Never mind all the bargains on offer, the millions spent on advertising, and all the imaginary and real trends: when Europeans go on holiday, more than 70 percent of them simply get in the car, according to the European Travel Commission. What is more, the majority of Greeks (89 percent), Spanish (86 percent), French (83 percent) and Italians (75 percent) spend their holidays in their own country, according to the Eurostat figures. They either own or rent a holiday house in the country and spend the summer with friends and relatives. By contrast, only one-third of Germans spend their holidays in pensions, private accommodation or on camp sites in Germany. Since the euro was introduced the French, British, Spanish and Italians in particular have found out that it can be cheaper to spend their holidays abroad than at home. Interestingly, they seem mainly to visit each other's countries.

Europe's Bathtub

Southern Europe's tourist industry has benefited from the fact that fewer Germans, British and Russians are travelling overseas to spend their holidays on the beach: here the tourism market has grown by 7 percent. Undeterred by the competition, Turkey, another beach destination, has responded by offering holidays at new, cheap, all-inclusive resorts. And indeed 18 percent more tourists travelled to Turkey in 2007, making it the country with the highest growth rate in Europe, followed by Greece (12 percent) and Portugal (10 percent).

Bavaria, Berlin and Cheap Flights

Western and northern Europe, on the other hand, thrive on city tourism. According to Euromonitor, London, with15 million international tourists annually, is the most visited city in Europe, followed by Paris (9.7 million), Rome (6 million), Barcelona (4.7 million) and Dublin (4.5 million). London alone has an annual turnover from tourism of 21 billion euros, followed by Paris, with 15.5 billion euros. Then there is European domestic tourism: the Germans, for example, have always enjoyed day and weekend trips to cities and are now once again spending longer holidays on the coast or in the mountains in their own country. The top destinations (for foreigners as well as Germans) are Bavaria (26 million tourists), Berlin (7.6 million) and the booming Baltic coastal resorts (4.7 million). Sanatoriums are now attracting more clientele from the Middle East, and the first hotels for patients have now opened in Germany.

Short Breaks with a Bonus for the Environment

Even if the percentage of holidays involving flying has increased over the past ten years to 25 percent, according to eurostat, and in Britain and Denmark from 34 to 47 and 42 percent, respectively – cheap flights are increasingly coming under fire. And while sustainable travel may, for reasons of cost, currently still be a niche market, it has registered strong growth and, given rising energy prices, has marked potential as well. "With an increase in sales of 17 percent, our growth figures are clearly well ahead of the rest of the travel sector”, boasts Rolf Pfeifer, managing director of the German travel company Forum anders Reisen, which brings together 150 travel operators offering environmentally and socially-friendly holidays. Currently its annual sales of 150 million euros account for only 1 percent of the German travel market. The Atmosfair initiative offers the possibility of offsetting the resulting
greenhouse gases by providing funding for climate protection projects. In 2007 it collected almost 1.4 million euros in donations for climate protection projects, a big increase on the 2006 figure of 194,000 euros.

Holidays in Eastern Europe

Many tourists are now taking short breaks to cities in Central and Eastern Europe such as Prague, Budapest, Cracow, Riga and Tallinn, which are still relatively inexpensive. The low prices combined with cheap flights are attracting tourists looking for beach holidays and nightlife, as well as health resort guests above all to Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Yet currently there is little growth: in 2007 only 1.7 percent more international tourists came to Eastern Europe than the previous year. Growth in the tourism sector is above average in Hungary (an increase of 2.8 percent in 2007 and 6.2 percent in 2006), although, like in many other eastern European countries, the majority of its tourists are day-trippers – almost 40 million arrivals compared with only 3.4 million overnight stays. Governments would like to see this change and "are investing strongly in infrastructure development and marketing. What is more they are promoting private investment in the tourism sector”, says Rob Franklin, managing director of the European Travel Commission. They hope the expenditure will pay off, for currently the amount of money tourists spend in Eastern Europe is 60 percent below that for the rest of Europe. This may soon change, however, when the Asians start to discover the new countries of the old continent. Already in 2006 China Travel International, one of China's largest travel agencies, reported a growing interest in Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Andrea Bonder

Born in 1972, Andrea Bonder is a social scientist. She has worked as an editor at the Institute of the German Economy in Cologne and ...
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