Europeans will spend more on travel by 2022

Europeans will spend more on travel by 2022

The confidence brought by the mass vaccination of European travellers is clearly being felt with a significant decrease in the level of apprehension measured by the confidence barometer of Travellyze, the European travel intelligence platform of ITG (International Tourism Group).

Download the infographic of the Spanish traveller profile here

According to Maria Sanchez, General Manager of Interface Tourism Spain, ITG’s office in Spain, “the data shows that in the new normal, Europeans are gaining confidence and acting more on their own criteria when making decisions”. When asked the question, “If you receive an offer from an attractive destination for which there is a government recommendation not to travel, would you travel?” those answering “no” have gone from 80% in 2020 to only 51% in 2022. Travelers are becoming less and less concerned about COVID and the potential inconvenience of COVID control measures are weighing less heavily on their decisions.”

The forecasts also indicate that during 2022, Europeans are willing to spend more on their travels than in 2021, mainly motivated by the easing of some health restrictions in different countries and the need to take advantage of vouchers for cancellations suffered in 2020 before they expire. Travellyze data also indicates that the number of Europeans expecting to spend more on their trips has increased by 5.6%, from 7.4% in 2021 to 13% in 2022. In turn, 4 out of 10 will spend between €1,000 and €3,000 on travel. These data suggest a gradual recovery of the sector in the coming year.

The factors that influence destination choice, i.e. how travellers book and where they stay, are some of the variables Travellyze analyses to draw conclusions about the tourism landscape.

With regard to the European market, the platform provides different keys for travel in 2022:

  • 35.3% of Europeans plan to book their trips through a travel comparison site, such as Skyscanner or Trivago, and 33.6% intend to book accommodation directly with the supplier. This trend of direct booking has been consolidating during the two years of the pandemic, although travel agencies are still in force, since, according to Travellyze, 32% plan to book a combined trip (flight + accommodation) with an online agency.
  • 53.5% of European travellers surveyed are interested in staying in a three- or four-star hotel for their 2022 trips, compared to 14% who are also considering a five-star establishment. This percentage has been boosted by the effect of vouchers for 2020 cancellations and forced savings.  
  • A logical consequence of the pandemic is the importance of cleanliness (42.3%), hygiene (41.1%) and safety (40.4%) as priority factors when choosing a destination. There is also a clear preference for outdoor spaces and the opportunity of outdoor and nature based activities is of great importance for 37.1 % of travellers, while urban experiences are the preferred option for 28.6 %.
  • The desire to avoid the inconvenience and hassle of flying as much as possible has made the availability of direct flights a necessity for 36.1% of travellers.

In addition to general data and trends for the European market as a whole, the Travellyze platform allows you to study in-depth profiles of each issuing country and even regions within each country.

The Spanish traveller

As for the Spanish traveller, the data extracted by Travellyze shows that the number of Spaniards who plan to travel more than once a year has increased by 2% compared to last year. It would go from 14.5% in 2021 to 16.8% in 2022. In addition, the percentage of Spaniards planning to spend between3,000 and 5,000 in 2022 increased by 3 % to 18 %.  

As for the sources of inspiration when choosing a holiday destination, recommendations from friends and family are the most important for Spaniards, followed by recommendations and comments from TripAdvisor-type websites (65.2%) and the main social network, Instagram, which inspires 60.9%. In fact, the influence of Instagram is even greater among those born after 2004, since for almost 100% of Generation Z, Instagram is the main resource when dreaming about a trip.

Travellyze, a complete X-ray of the traveller

The business intelligence tool Travellyze, is the first platform that manages to obtain a picture of the traveller from surveys that analyse the intention of tourists before booking. As a result, reports are generated with data arranged in three different blocks: demographics, consumer behaviour and perception of the destination. With this information, this intuitive tourism analysis platform makes it possible to create profiles of travellers and their habits, making it easier for tourism marketers to establish strategies and make tactical decisions in an agile way.

Christopher Pomeroy

ITG Executive Board Member

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