WHAT AILS EUROPE? - On The Road Magazine Website. An ...

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Places news ETC review The European Travel Commission (ETC) has just published its fourth quarterly report on European Tourism in 2011 - Trends & Prospects. The following gives a brief overview of the report for the fourth quarter of 2011. • Travel to European destinations in 2011 has exceeded the prior peak set in 2008 • • • • • • • Impressively, 22 of 23 reporting countries show international visitor growth in 2011, ranging from 3% in the UK to more than 20% in Latvia and Lithuania. And 24 of 26 countries show gains in hotel occupancy in 2011 Total international visits are estimated to have surged 6% last year, while hotel occupancy rates rose 3.2%, indicating that domestic demand lagged behind international demand. While the travel recovery has been quite robust, signs of eroding gains began to appear, as expected, in the second half of 2011. Data on visitation and nights from TourMIS (http://www.tourmis.info/ index_e.html) as well as hotel and airline industry data provide a consistent picture of the pullback on growth in recent months. Three forces converged to bring about this late-year trend: reversion to the mean from the ash cloud rebound in the first half of the year; the second half of 2010 was relatively stronger than the first half so comparisons in 2011 were to a higher base; and the Eurozone debt crisis began to affect both consumer and business behaviour. The financial crisis in the Eurozone has continued to worsen in recent months. Problems in sovereign debt markets have spread from Greece, Ireland and Portugal to Spain and Italy - posing a much more severe threat of global financial contagion. If the Eurozone authorities fail to arrest the alarming slide in financial and business confidence, the consequences would be severe. In the event of a Eurozone break-up, GDP could initially fall by around 10% in the exiting countries and the attendant financial disruption would plunge much of the world, including the United States, back into recession. The full report can be downloaded from ETC’s corporate website under the following link: http://www.etc-corporate.org/market-intelligence/reports-and-studies.html Rome Olympics 2020 Rome has been forced to withdraw its bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games after Prime Minister Mario Monti refused to guarantee the cost of staging the event. Monti said it would be irresponsible to use government funds for the event during a time of austerity. Estimates suggest the games could cost as much as £8 billion to stage. The decision leaves Doha as the front runner to win the bid, with Istanbul, Tokyo, Madrid and Baku also in the race. “In essence, if we find ourselves now in such a difficult financial position it is because similar decisions were made by previous governments without having considered the resulting impact in the following years,” Monti explained. Venice Egypt The Egypt Tourism Authority has announced that 1,034,413 British holidaymakers visited Egypt in 2011. This makes the UK the second most popular tourist nationality to the home of the ancient Pharaohs, topped only by Russia with Germany coming third. It has also been announced that the average UK holidaymaker spends 11.45 nights per annum in Egypt. and... The countries new government has promised there will be no crackdown on alcohol and bikinis at its tourist resorts. The country’s recent elections resulted in the dominance of two ultra-religious parties, prompting fears of Saudi-style restrictions in the popular Sinai and Red Sea resorts, but the Freedom and Justice Party insisted last week that tourism “will not be subjected to any changes as long as we are represented in the parliament”. In addition, it promises that monuments and statues that had been under wraps during the old regime will be brought out and displayed in open-air museums along the banks of the Nile. Greece Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos has announced that the € crisis is hitting tourism in Greece. He said Germans were afraid to visit his country fearing they would be blamed for the Greek austerity regime. The scaffoldings have come down after a three year restoration work at the world famous Bridge of Sighs in Venice and it can now be admired in its full glory. The bridge was built to connect the old prison to the interrogations rooms in the Doge’s Palace and was given its name by Lord Byron in the 19th century who suggested that the prisoners would sigh while crossing the bridge and admiring Venice after a long period of imprisonment. Venice - Bridge of Sighs Lithuania The Lithuanian State Department of Tourism has closed all National Tourism Offices abroad and will focus overseas marketing centrally from Lithuania. Please direct all work-related issues to Lithuanian State Department of Tourism :Marketing: Mrs Daiva Kirkilaitė-Chetcuti +370 616 17 796 d.chetcuti@tourism.lt Vilnius Tourism Information Centre Director Jolanta Beniuliene +370 5 212 1833, +370 618 81598, jolanta.beniuliene@ vilnius.lt Kaunas Tourism Information Centre Director Sigitas Sidaravicius +370 37 323 436, sigitas@kaunastic.lt Madrid & Barcelona The two cities have achieved second place in the list of best European cities for shopping, compiled by The Globe Shopper City Index – Europe. Both cities are just half a point short of the winning city, London, and ahead of Paris, Rome and Berlin. The Globe Shopper City Index – Europe measures the attractiveness of the 33 biggest European cities for international shopping trips. Each city was awarded points across five categories: shops, affordability, convenience, hotels & transport, and culture & climate. www. esmadrid.com/en/shopping-madrid Tenerife The Tenerife Tourism Corporation has received the Association of Independent Tour Operators “AITO Affiliates Green Award 2011”, in recognition of its efforts in sustainable and responsible tourism. Tenerife has developed a number of initiatives over the years to improve the sustainability of this island that is rich in natural fauna and flora. With around half of Tenerife being covered in national parkland, the island’s government has introduced a series of new trails in natural areas, including the new accessible “Path of Senses” in the Anaga Rural Park and new volcano-themed routes set to launch this year.. Resource use is under scrutiny as Tenerife hopes to generate more than half of the island’s energy through natural energy resources. http://www.webtenerifeuk. co.uk/index.htm?Lang=en ...continued On the Road issue 201 Page 4
Places news ...continued MOMENTS OF WONDER SPARKLING SHOPPING EXPERIENCES 6112 Wattens, Austria, Tel. +43 (0)5224 51080 www.swarovski.com/kristallwelten Open daily from 9.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. Last entry 5.30 p.m. Closed 2nd and 3rd week of November Basque Country Spanish regional capital Vitoria-Gasteiz has been named as European Green Capital 2012. Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of the Basque Country. The city has successfully put in place numerous measures to assist and increase biodiversity and support the local ecosystem. Flora and fauna are regularly monitored Virgen Blanca - Vitoria-Gasteiz and any damage to the local habitat is kept to a bare minimum. The city is successfully coping with water scarcity and has steadily decreased its water consumption over the last decade. Considerable water related investments have been made to improve water supply and quality, reduce water loss and work towards sustainable consumption www.vitoria-gasteiz.org London 2012 Travel trends Amadeus, - travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, and Forward Data SL, a market research and consulting company publishing ForwardKeys.com have recently unveiled a range of travel data trends, based on actual global air reservations, which details the impact of the London 2012 Olympics. The forecast provided by ForwardKeys.com is based on actual statistical aggregated air booking data currently available and covers the period from 23 July though to 12 August 2012. With approximately 120 days to go before the Games, the findings reveal that travel volumes into London will significantly increase during the Games. Importantly, the research demonstrates the global impact of the Games as other European cities, connected to London via high speed rail, see increased traffic, while long-haul routes experience heightened volumes. Key findings from the research include: • In-bound traffic boosts travel to London during Games-time Analysis of all in-bound air travel reservations for London reveals a massive spike in arrivals (143% increase compared to the same day 2011) on 26 July, the day before the opening of the Games. When the period of analysis is broadened to include the four days before the event, scheduled future arrivals show an overall increase of 31% when compared to the previous year. • US and German travellers show an early appetite for the Games US citizens lead in early bookings with analysis showing a 82% surge in bookings to London as early as August 2011 year on year and .Currently, 17% of scheduled arrivals. German travellers are in hot pursuit, representing 11% of scheduled arrivals during the period of analysis. Estonia is recording the largest increase in visitors to London with a 14-fold increase in arrivals during the Games. • Long-haul routes in Latin America and the Caribbean increase volumes The traditionally successful Olympic nations of Jamaica (fourfold increase) and Brazil (threefold increase) show the largest relative growth in scheduled arrivals for long-haul travel. • European high speed cities benefit from the Games Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris are all linked to London by high speed rail and all three cities have registered surges in arrivals during the Games. During the three week period of the Olympics, future scheduled arrivals in Brussels are up 49% compared to 2011; Amsterdam 28%; and Paris 5%. These figures suggest that travellers are increasingly adopting high-speed rail links in conjunction with air travel in order to reach London. • Londoners show appetite to stay in the city to experience the Games Analysis of scheduled departures from all London airports shows that Londoners are 11% more likely to stay in the city during the Olympics period than they did in 2011. Londoners are not flocking en mass to rent out their homes and to travel abroad. Instead, it seems that the vast majority of Londoners are keen to play an active role in the event. Olivier Jager, CEO of Forward Data says: “Real time monitoring of Air Reservation information offers unprecedented insider’s view on travel decisions that are still in the making, thus allowing smart marketers to adjust strategies and impact future trends.” http://www.amadeus.com/blog/01/03/olympics/ On the Road issue 201 Page 5
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