In 2017, Europe became the leader in receiving tourists and showed 7% growth in incoming international tourist flow. In general, international tourism demonstrated the highest growth rates in the last twenty years. This was announced at the conference at the last weekend at the International Tourism Exhibition ITB Berlin 2018.
As experts noted, 2017 was an exceptionally strong year for the international travel market, with Europe becoming the main “driver” both as a source of tourist flow and as a destination region.
Globally, international travel increased by 6.5 percent to nearly 1.2 billion in 2017. The industry's sensitivity to terrorism also decreased significantly for the first time in recent years.
These findings are based on the latest results from IPK World Travel Monitor, an annual survey and analysis of consumer behaviour in 60 countries around the world that account for more than 90 percent of global outbound demand.
Following the leader, Europe, are North and Latin America (6% growth each) and Asia with 5%. In addition, Europe received the largest profit as a destination region.
The most popular destination last year was Spain, while the United States and Germany took second and third place, respectively. France and Italy were in fourth and fifth place.
When analysing the types of trips, IPK World Travel Monitor clarifies that Last year, urban travel was the main driver of growth with an 18 percent increase in flow. Beach holidays, which have the largest market share, grew by 9 percent. On the other hand, the segment of expensive round-the-world trips decreased by 1 percent.
Recently the topic overtourism has become one of the most popular topics in the tourism industry precisely because of record flows to some cities around the world. Since this topic not only affects destinations, tourist attractions, local infrastructure of city residents and travelers themselves, IPK International conducted a special survey among international tourists in February 2018.
The results showed that 24 percent of all international tourists felt that the destination they visited was overcrowded. However, only 9 percent said it had a negative impact on the quality of their holiday.
The worst-hit cities were Mexico City (23 percent), Shanghai (22 percent), Venice (20 percent), Beijing (19 percent), Hong Kong (18 percent), Istanbul, Amsterdam and Florence (17 percent each) and Barcelona (16 percent).
In addition, for the fifth time, IPK International held a special Survey on the impact of terrorist threats on international tourist behavior in major markets worldwide. The study found that for 37 percent of international travelers say the latest warnings of instability and terror will impact their travel plans in 2018 compared to 41 percent in October 2017.
Also, 24 percent said they would still travel abroad, but only to destinations they perceive as "safe".
By the way, some directions were rated by respondents as safer compared to October 2017. This applies, for example, to the largest cities in Spain, the USA, Germany and Great Britain.
Although there are various risks to travel, IPK International expects that Global tourist flow will increase by 5 percent in 2018.
According to the IPK International Outbound Travel Forecast for 2018, Latin America to Become One of the Most Active Outbound Markets with a 7 percent increase in tourist flow. Next comes Asia (+ 6 percent). International travel from Europe and North America is also expected to grow by 4 percent.
Source: trn-news.ru
