What are European travel trends?

According to the latest data, outbound trips from Europe increased by 2.5 percent during the first eight months of 2019. City breaks registered a strong increase again at plus seven percent.

The increase in trips to Germany was higher than the European average, outbound trips from Eastern Europe recorded a higher growth rate than those from Western Europe.

Compared to last year, the growth in travel is weaker and below global average. As for destination choices, during the first eight months of 2019 trips to Europe performed better than to Asia. Long-haul trips by Europeans to America, which in recent years had risen only slightly, were on the increase again.

After stagnating last year, Spain, Europe’s most popular holiday destination by far, achieved a slight growth again. However, the outperforming destinations during the first eight months of the year were above all Turkey, Portugal and Greece. At four percent, also Germany registered an above-average increase in visitors from Europe.

By contrast, the UK again recorded a drop in visitors. In 2020 outbound trips by Europeans will increase by three to four percent, thus a higher growth rate than in 2019 will be expected.