Trends in the Spanish traveller in 2019

The Spanish tourist shows heterogeneous perceptions and interests according to their destination, although in general, their preference for cultural, gastronomic and active products stands out, during their visits to some of the most tourist-friendly cities in the world.

Between January and September 2018, more than 15 million Spaniards traveled abroad, a trend that marks an increase of almost 12% over the previous year, according to the latest statistics published by the National Institute of Statistics. This trend, which implies the increase of trips abroad by Spaniards, was reinforced by an increase in air connectivity of the main Spanish airports with distant destinations.

Data shows a clear increase in Spanish demand for foreign destinations, based on the analysis of the interests and perceptions of Spaniards who have visited any of the 9 most visited cities in the world, according to the Global Index of Destination Cities 2018 by MasterCard. Through the Tourism Intelligence platform of MabrianTechnologies, almost 36 million tourists have been identified and analyzed in Social Networks in relation to these destinations, between January 1 and December 22, 2018, as well as more than 15 thousand air connections scheduled for 2019.

From the comparison between the different indices of perception and satisfaction calculated, Bangkok stands out as the destination with the highest Global Satisfaction Index for Spaniards, followed by Tokyo and Singapore.

Regarding the satisfaction shown by the Spaniards for the general offer of tourist products in each of the destinations, as measured by the Tourism Product Index, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and New York, they obtain the highest scores.

Using natural language processing techniques applied to the spontaneous interactions of users in social networks, the perception of safety and the climatology of the visitors was measured. The Safety Perception Index is especially important when talking about distant destinations that can generate greater uncertainty in this regard. Dubai is the destination with the highest rating in this index, followed by Bangkok and Singapore.

 

 

It is important to note the assessment of London, whose safety index was affected by news that may affect the safety or health of travelers, and the amplifying power of networks, whose effects must be addressed proactively and in real time, to detect and react in the most effective manner to any event that may affect tourism to the destination.  Regarding the Climate Perception Index of these destinations, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Singapore were rated the highest.

This means that the previous expectations of the users, regarding the weather that they would find in destination, were satisfied at an excellent level during their visit, something that does not happen in the same way in destinations like New York, London or Tokyo.

When considering the interest that the different tourism products of these increasingly popular destinations for Spanish travelers, we have observed different preferences, although in general, the cultural product, the gastronomic and the active, are the ones that attract the most attention.

To measure this interest, the number of mentions in social networks related to each of the established tourism products was counted, in relation to the total. Thus, for example, the interest for the cultural product in New York stands out, for the gastronomic product Bangkok, or Dubai for nightlife.

Once the interests and perceptions have been analyzed, it is of great interest to assess the ease of access of the Spanish market to these destinations. Hence, direct air connectivity data from the main Spanish airports with these destinations has been added to the study. A ranking has been established for the number of direct air spaces offered from Spain to these destinations for the first quarter of 2019.

From the cross-analysis of this data, we can extrapolate global trends for the Spanish market in 2019, with dominating trends standing out; the greater interest of this market to travel abroad, a demand for more of a link to a personalized experience that covers their previous expectations and increasing the perceived value on destinations.

Methodoligical Notes:

 

The Tourism Products Index, measures the level of satisfactionwith the offer (products) of the destination in different categories:Cultural, Gastronomic, etc. This index is obtained by analyzing thedistribution of positive, negative and neutral comments for each of theseproducts in Social Networks.

 

• PSindex: the Safety Perception Index, measures the level of safetyperceived by visitors. This index is calculated using advanced NLPtechniques (neurolinguistic programming) that allow us to understandwhen a comment refers to this issue.
• PCindex: the Climate Perception Index, measures the level ofsatisfaction of visitors with the weather in the destination. This is achievedby measuring the volume of negative comments regarding the weather inthe destination, and drawing an inverse relationship: the lower the volumeof negative comments, the higher the satisfaction index. This type ofmeasure allows us to understand the relationship between theexpectations of the visitors and the reality of the destination.
• HSindex: the Satisfaction Index with the Hotel Offering, measures thelevel of satisfaction of the visitors with the offering of a destinationincluding three, four and five star hotels, based on the comments onTripadvisor and Booking.
• GTPindex: the Global Satisfaction index, measures the overall level ofsatisfaction of visitors with the destination. This measurement is made byanalyzing the four previous indicators, as well as analyzing the generalsentiment of the destination.The index above mentioned show values between 0 and 100 points. Seebelow an explanation of the rating scale:
• From 0 to 24 points: levels of satisfaction and confidence are very lowand therefore constitute a priority area of attention.
• From 25 to 49 points: Relatively low level of satisfaction and trust.Important potential for improvement.
• From 50 to 74 points: Good satisfaction level. Moderate improvementpotential.
• From 75 to 100 points: Excellent levels of satisfaction and trust. In somecases there are margins for improvement, although in most cases levels areonly to be maintained or consolidated.

By Mabrian Technologies