Sluggish Internal Travel Slows European Growth Jul 24th 2013, 18:02
The European Travel Commission (ETC) unveiled its March through June figures in its ‘European Tourism in 2013 – Trends & Prospects’ report. The staple of European tourism, intra-European travel, is holding back the performance of most European destinations. Despite the havoc being generated by Europe’s financial crisis, the ETC still expects a “tempered growth” of between 1 and 3 percent for the summer of 2013. The March to June pre-Summer period shows 22 destinations posting positive growth. The report notes, “As tourists remain cost conscious, the growth in overnight stays remains subdued compared to that of arrivals. Capacity growth has also been constrained, despite demand expansion.”
Relative newcomers to tourism are putting up more impressive growth percentages but their growing from a much smaller base than such larger tourism magnets as France or the U.K. Iceland, for instance, is up 30 percent and Slovakia 20 percent with destinations such as Montenegro, Latvia and Croatia hovering around 9 percent and Hungary and Poland at about 7 percent. Arrivals in Cyprus fell 12 percent.
The ETC attributes cost sensitivity to the flat rate in overnights performance. The report cites a few exceptions such as Latvia at +9 percent in arrivals and +14 percent in overnights; Croatia at +9 percent and +11 percent respectively; Malta at +7 percent and +10 percent respectively; and the Czech Republic at +3 percent and +4 percent. These “exception” destinations are attracting long-staying travelers and in some cases enjoying the benefits of new connections with medium and long-haul markets or reduced fiscal pressure on tourism services.
The Chinese traveler is once again, the dynamic force behind much of the growth in Europe this year, but American arrivals remain “solid for the majority of reporting destinations.”
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