Terrorism fears impacting European arrivals

BTN News
Sunday, 18 December 2016

The Air Travellers’ Traffic Barometer shows terrorist fears weakened arrivals to Europe in Q3 2016.


The Barometer - produced by European Cities Marketing (ECM) - shows international travel dropped by 3.5 per cent while long-haul (excluding intra-European flows) remained resilient, decreasing by only -0.3 per cent. The stabilisation of the long haul segment is mainly due to the increase in travellers from the Americas and Middle East

.
As a result of the visa exemption for some countries in Latin America such as Colombia and Peru, Central and South America regions rose slightly by 0.5 per cent. The Middle East was impacted by Ramadan timing. Asia and Oceania shrank by -3.3 per cent, in part due to switching to alternative destinations to Europe and Japanese travellers concerned about European safety.
Long-haul travellers' top growing destinations included six cities of the Iberian Peninsula - Valencia, Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, Mallorca and Lisbon - which also were among the top 10 growing destinations.


The steady growth of Barcelona (+9.5 per cent) and Madrid (+8.5 per cent) already are among the group of most-relevant destinations in terms of volume. Hamburg (+11.4 per cent) and Berlin (+6.5 per cent) show the interest that German cities are generating.


International bookings for arrivals in Q4 2016 as of September 30th are down -1.7 per cent, better than the previous quarter. The Asia and Oceania region is down by -5.5 per cent, impacted by the Japanese. North America is slowing down but remains positive.


As expected, the post-referendum and cheaper British pound boosted London as a key European destination. The slight decline of -0.6 per cent is an improvement when compared with previous reports. Northern Europe and South-Western Europe, along with Dubrovnik, are the fastest-growing booking areas.


Safety is one of the strongest prerequisites that travellers demand and the rest of Europe is being affected by the fear of terrorism, said a spokesperson for ECM.

Terrorism fears impacting European arrivals

BTN News
Sunday, 18 December 2016

The Air Travellers’ Traffic Barometer shows terrorist fears weakened arrivals to Europe in Q3 2016.


The Barometer - produced by European Cities Marketing (ECM) - shows international travel dropped by 3.5 per cent while long-haul (excluding intra-European flows) remained resilient, decreasing by only -0.3 per cent. The stabilisation of the long haul segment is mainly due to the increase in travellers from the Americas and Middle East

.
As a result of the visa exemption for some countries in Latin America such as Colombia and Peru, Central and South America regions rose slightly by 0.5 per cent. The Middle East was impacted by Ramadan timing. Asia and Oceania shrank by -3.3 per cent, in part due to switching to alternative destinations to Europe and Japanese travellers concerned about European safety.
Long-haul travellers' top growing destinations included six cities of the Iberian Peninsula - Valencia, Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, Mallorca and Lisbon - which also were among the top 10 growing destinations.


The steady growth of Barcelona (+9.5 per cent) and Madrid (+8.5 per cent) already are among the group of most-relevant destinations in terms of volume. Hamburg (+11.4 per cent) and Berlin (+6.5 per cent) show the interest that German cities are generating.


International bookings for arrivals in Q4 2016 as of September 30th are down -1.7 per cent, better than the previous quarter. The Asia and Oceania region is down by -5.5 per cent, impacted by the Japanese. North America is slowing down but remains positive.


As expected, the post-referendum and cheaper British pound boosted London as a key European destination. The slight decline of -0.6 per cent is an improvement when compared with previous reports. Northern Europe and South-Western Europe, along with Dubrovnik, are the fastest-growing booking areas.


Safety is one of the strongest prerequisites that travellers demand and the rest of Europe is being affected by the fear of terrorism, said a spokesperson for ECM.