Published on : Thursday, February 14, 2013
In a period of widespread economic uncertainty and even turmoil in some countries, European source markets showed divergent travel patterns in 2012, IPK analyst Stephanie Grothe told Pisa forum. Last year’s boom market was Russia with a 12% rise in outbound travel as the strong economy and increasing affluence combined to generate more international travel.
Two countries with strong currencies, Switzerland and Norway, also showed strong growth of 10% and 6% respectively as travellers were able to get extra value for money, especially in eurozone destinations. Other countries in northern and western Europe, such as Belgium, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands also generated solid growth last year.
In contrast, Germany, the largest outbound market in Europe, stagnated last year despite the stable economy, according to the ETM, while UK outbound travel grew by a slight 1% amid tough economic conditions.
Moreover, there was a slump in international travel by Italians and Spaniards due to severe economic problems and many chose to holiday within their home country this year.
“These complex figures for European outbound travel reflect diverse factors and trends in the source markets,” commented IPK chief Rolf Freitag.
“In general, we can say that northern Europeans continued to travel abroad this year despite economic problems, more and more eastern Europeans are discovering the rest of Europe but southern Europeans clearly cut back their international travel this year for financial reasons and either holidayed within their own country or did not travel at all.”
Source:- Russia Travel
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