According to the latest research called “Monitoring Sentiment for Domestic and Intra-European Travel – Wave 9” by the European Travel Commission (ETC), the desire for travel remains strong across Europe. The ETC provides timely insights on Europeans’ short-term travel intentions and preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, the study revealed that 66 percent of Europeans have planned trips through March 2022, while increased confidence on where, when and how to travel indicates a positive tourism outlook for the coming months.
For the first time since October 2020, Europeans’ travel plans are spread evenly over the next six months: 26 percent are opting for trips between October and November; 28 percent between December 2021 and January 2022; and 25 percent will travel in February and March 2022. These results indicate that an increasing number of Europeans are no longer in a “waiting mode” to travel and feel much more confident to embark on spontaneous trips.
As travel sentiment continues to improve and pandemic restrictions become the new normal, ‘travel-ready’ Europeans are more determined to adhere to their travel plans (up 39 percent over the previous survey), rather than postpone or wait.
Intra-European getaways are now at the forefront, indicating enhanced comfort to travel internationally: more than one in two Europeans with short-term travel plans will head to other European countries, a 41 percent surge since September 2020. Meanwhile, preferences for domestic trips (32 percent) decreased by 18 percent over the past 12 months. Mediterranean destinations rank highest on travelers’ destination wish list, with Italy and Spain (both 9 percent), France (8 percent) and Greece (7 percent) as the top preferences.
Desire for city breaks (18 percent) has now reached a peak for 2021 with a 43 percent surge since summer 2021, though the appeal of a holiday at the coast also remains strong. At the same time, trip planning is becoming more last-minute, since only 29 percent of Europeans with travel plans for October or November have fully booked their trip. This drops further, to 15 percent, among those traveling later in 2021. Higher interest in city breaks and last-minute bookings is another indicator of the gradual return to normalcy and toward more spontaneous trips in the near future.
More city breaks come along with the increased popularity of shorter trips of up to three nights (30 percent of city-break travelers). Shortening trip length also affects budgets, as the share of travelers intending to spend up to 500 euros on their trip grows by 20 percent compared to the previous survey, to the detriment of higher expenditure levels (1,000+ euros).
Despite a lingering hesitancy toward air travel, more than 50 percent of “travel-ready” Europeans are now eager to switch to air transport (a 13 percent increase over the previous survey). This is another sign of improved consumer confidence towards using commercial flights to optimize travel times.
Despite their increased eagerness to travel in the next six months, 63 percent of “early bird” travelers still rely on health and safety protocols at the destination as it makes them feel more comfortable and likely to enjoy their trip. Destinations and tourism businesses should reassure travelers through effective COVID-19 measures, especially in relation to the areas of most concern: air travel, in-destination transportation and local attractions.
For more information, visit etc-corporate.org.
Related Stories
Stats: Travel Booking Window Lengthening
Stats: Long-Distance Travelers Planning Expensive Trips for 2022