ETC: Record 76% of Europeans Plan to Travel in Coming Months

A record percentage of Europeans is planning to travel in the period of June to November, but have increasing concerns about climate change when making vacation plans, according to the European Travel Commission (ETC)

According to the ETC’s Summer/Autumn 2024 Monitoring Sentiment for Intra-European Travel report, based on questionnaires to thousands of people in 10 key European countries, 76 percent of travelers are planning intra-European trips up to November, up by 6 percent over last year.

Travel is to peak in June and July, according to 45 percent of respondents, followed by August and September, with an additional 39 percent. The places of choice for traveling would be Spain (81 percent), Italy (81 percent) and the UK (80 percent).

Source: ETC

Yet, the top three destinations for leisure trips are Spain, Italy and France and for business trips the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland.

Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Germany are first in the top ten list of preferred countries for the next Intra-European trip of respondents, with Greece notably attracting new enthusiasts, with a record percentage of 28 percent of survey respondents saying they will be first-time visitors to the country.

Source: ETC

Europeans said they look forward to travelling for the experience of Sun & Beach by 19 percent, for Culture & Heritage by 17 percent and for Nature & Outdoors by 14 percent. Their main criteria included appealing natural landscapes, the local gastronomy of destinations and indulging in local cultures.

Concerns

It is worth noting that while expressing anxiety about price inflation, Europeans’ travel budgets and intended length of stay for the coming months remain unchanged. As for the biggest spenders, those would be between the ages of 25 and 34, with 46 percent of them asked saying that they plan to spend more than 1.500 euros per trip.

Yet, 21 percent of people participating in the surveys named inflation as their number one concern, with personal finances coming second (16 percent), and geopolitical tensions resulting from the war in Ukraine third (11 percent) and in the Middle East fourth (10 percent).

Source: ETC

In their leading criteria for choosing a destination over the next five months, they included safety (16 percent), pleasant weather (13 percent) and bargains (11 percent). Europeans seem to be planning well ahead, with 56 percent of those asked saying they have already decided for their next trip.

A new trend seems to be developing, with 3 percent more of those asked saying they prefer to stay in a hotel, with hotels being the top accommodation of choice.

Source: ETC

Finally, more and more Europeans say they take climate change and particularly high temperatures into consideration when choosing a destination, yet safety remains their number one factor of worry.

How important is the weather? A good 34% of those asked, answer: “a lot”. So, the ETC report suggests that measures be taken and infrastructure, such as heat reflective pavements, built and advertised to ease such worries.