Long-haul arrivals in Europe still growing during first quarter of 2015

The latest results from the Air Travellers’ Traffic Barometer1 produced by European Cities Marketing and ForwardKeys highlight that international arrivals are still growing during first quarter of 2015, following the trend of 2014.

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International arrivals in Europe 1 Jan – 31 Mar 2015 (% Var vs Prev year)

During first quarter of 2015, all international source markets grew by 1.3% compared to previous year, mostly driven by long-haul travellers (+5.2%). The Intra-European market (standing for 66% of all arrivals in Europe) slightly decreased by 0.5% following the last quarter of 2014 with Russia and Ukraine collapsing. Africa was also in a negative trend this beginning of 2015 with a -4.9% decrease. North America might have been boosted by the favourable currency exchange and its better economy situation.

Asia & Oceania had solid growth acceleration since the beginning of 2014 but are now facing a slight slowdown, impacted by the Anti-Corruption programme in China. Nevertheless, both markets are still growing year over year by 10%, helped partly by a stronger CNY/EUR Exchange rate.

Short stays between 1 to 5 days predominate in first quarter of 2015, driven by the European market and the reduced number of long holidays’ dates. Solo and couple travellers remain the main part of the total arrivals (78%) but larger groups had a strong increase (+9.7% for 3 to 5 pax and +24% for 6+ pax).

Barcelona, Milan and Munich are the winners in terms of market share and variation during first quarter of 2015 as they are the only cities present in both top 10 lists for growth and volume. They also received significant bookings for arrivals during second quarter of 2015; meanwhile, Budapest and Prague are consolidating their position with relevant growths.

All ECM members have exclusive access to the complete European Cities Marketing-ForwardKeys Air Travellers’ Traffic Barometer with all the graphs and analysis.

 

1This analysis is based on Air Reservation Data propriety of ForwardKeys® as of 31st March 2015.
Perimeter: Includes air reservations made by passengers arriving in Europe and staying at least one night in destination, therefore excluding: “Transits”, “Day trips”, “One-way trips” and “Returns”.
 Arrival period: 1 Jan – 31 Mar 2015 vs. 1 Jan – 31 Mar 2014.
Booking situation for next quarter: 1 Apr – 30 Jun 2015 vs. 1 Apr – 30 Jun 2014 according to bookings issued as of 31 Mar 2015 and as of 31 Mar 2014.

 

European Cities Marketing is a non-profit organisation improving the competitiveness and performance of leading cities of Europe. ECM provides a platform for convention, leisure and city marketing professionals to exchange knowledge, best practice and widen their network to build new business. European Cities Marketing is promoting and linking the interests of 110 members from more than 100 major cities in 36 countries.

Contact information
Flavie Baudot
Tel: +33 380 56 02 00

 

ForwardKeys.com is a service of Forward Data S.L, a Market Research and Consulting Company registered in Spain. ForwardKeys is a Business Intelligence service bringing a new approach to operational traveller data intelligence for Hotels Chains, Tourism boards and Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) leveraging non confidential Air reservation information. ForwardKeys provides to:
DMOs and Tourism Boards with travellers’ trends information and means to monitor and measure the impact of their marketing efforts to drive more business to their destination.
Hotel chains with ways to quantify future demand and anticipate market trends to optimize sales, marketing and revenue management efforts, using traveller’s reservation, source market, arrival, return date and future travel information.

Contact information
Sébastien Cron
Tel: +33 972 221 570