What is the main concern among travelers when selecting a holiday destination? Cost? Accommodations for the kids? The number of tourist attractions in the area?
According to a report by the FIA in World Tourism Day, potential travelers care less about these things and more about their safety when choosing their holiday destination. In the study, individuals consistently selected safety concerns related to crime, natural disasters, health or terrorism, as one of the main things they considered then crossing off a location from their list, scoring it with an importance of 8.5 out of 10 on average.
Following closely behind safety as a reason to rule out a destination was weather, poor accommodations, and lack of natural beauty in the area.
The “iTest” relied on for this survey was conducted internationally through FIA National Automobile and Touring Clubs earlier this year, and collected data from over 9,000 people in 38 different countries.
This data underscores the importance for tourist organizations and governments to provide potential tourists with realistic and adequate information to inform them of areas of higher risk, while governments work to maximize security measures.
Factors that didn’t really seem to influence tourists’ choice of location included the availability of sports facilities and nightlife. However, before you stop promoting that fancy sports facility in the newest hotel it’s important to remember that these results were across all individuals surveyed. In fact, travelers 18 to 30 actually tended to place a very high value on sports facility availability.
The FIA survey also showed that many travelers preferred to travel to countries within their own continent, instead of venturing out across the sea.
As a motoring organization representing over 100 million motorists, the FIA National Automobile and Touring Clubs, which conducted the survey, is predominantly represented in Europe. However the organization asserts that the results are consistent across international regions.
Visit: www.fia.com
