ETC: Destinations Must Be Ready to Handle Strong Travel Demand

Strong travel intent is driving tourism recovery in Europe but destinations must be ready to handle the growing demand, said the European Travel Commission (ETC) this week.

At the same time, in view of the demand, the ETC is warning of potential disruptions from aviation strikes, labor shortages and war-related airspace closures.

According to the ETC’s latest “European Tourism: Trends & Prospects” report for the second quarter of the year, Europe has recouped nearly 95 percent of pre-Covid 2019 international tourist arrival levels despite the cost-of-living crisis.

Source: ETC

“It is encouraging to see the positive recovery of international tourist arrivals in the first half of 2023. With this in mind, European destinations must be prepared to effectively manage the increased demand and return of travelers,” said ETC President Miguel Sanz.

According to ETC analysts, one-quarter of reporting European destinations have managed to surpass pre-pandemic foreign arrival figures.

Air traffic across Europe is edging closer to pre-Covid levels. In terms of long-haul source markets, the US is driving recovery in Europe.

Looking ahead however, the ETC warns that destinations and tourism stakeholders must formulate strategies that will enable the distribution of tourists to avoid overcrowding.

“Tourist strategies must embrace travel dispersal in order to support destinations in addressing overcrowding, while also spreading the benefits of tourism to less-travelled areas. Tourism can and should be leveraged as a social, economic, and sustainable force for good,” said Sanz.

Other key takeaways of the ETC report include:

– consumers are making their travel decisions based on cost which is benefiting destinations offering more value for money

– air traffic volumes are edging closer to pre-pandemic levels according to data to June thanks to increased airline capacity across both European and foreign airline carriers

– European flight scheduling is returning to 2019 levels with planned seat capacity at 96 percent this summer. The ETC warns however that “it remains to be seen whether airline capacity can meet demand this summer”

-the US is leading overseas travel recovery in Europe thanks to favorable exchange rates. Most recent data shows that 52 percent of reporting destinations have surpassed pre-pandemic levels of US tourist arrivals so far this year.

The ETC’s report includes data from the TourMIS database, STR, IATA, Eurocontrol, UNWTO and Transparent.