European Cities Marketing and ForwardKeys announced the latest results from the Air Travelers' Traffic Barometer. The international arrivals are still growing during first quarter of 2015, following the trend of 2014. During first quarter of 2015, all international source markets grew by 1.3% compared to previous year, mostly driven by long-haul travelers (+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 favorable currency exchange and its better economy situation.
Asia & Oceania, who had solid growth acceleration since the beginning of 2014, are facing a slight slowdown during the first quarter of 2015 impacted by the Anti-Corruption programme in China. Nevertheless, both 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 travelers 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 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 Travelers' Traffic Barometer with all the graphs and analysis.
