The latest results from the Air Travellers' Traffic Barometer* produced by European Cities Marketing and ForwardKeys highlight that terror fear is still weakening arrivals in Europe for Q3 2016.
International travels dropped by -3.5% while the long haul segment (excluding intra-European flows) remains resilient, slightly decreasing by -0.3%. This stabilisation of the long haul segment is mainly due to the increase in travellers from the Americas and Middle East.
As a result of the visa exemption for some countries in Latin America such as Colombia and Peru, Central & South America regions rose slightly by 0.5 %. The Middle East was impacted by the Ramadan timing effect. Asia and Oceania shrank by -3.3%, likely due to growing alternative destinations to Europe and Japanese travellers concerned about European safety.
Long haul travellers top growing destinations are mainly cities of the Iberian Peninsula, but German cities are also generating interest
Six cities of the Iberian Peninsula - Valencia, Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, Mallorca and Lisbon - were among the top 10 growing destinations. The steady growths of Barcelona (+9.5%) and Madrid (+8.5%) are noticeable by the fact that they are already among the group of most relevant destinations in terms of volume. Hamburg (+11.4%) and Berlin (+6.5%) demonstrate the interest that German cities are generating.
International bookings to Europe see recovery in Q4 2016 compared to previous year
International bookings for arrivals in Q4 2016 as of September 30th are down -1.7%. It's better than the previous quarter, the Intra European travellers being less negative this time. The Asia & Oceania region is down by -5.5% impacted by the Japanese. North America is slowing down but remains positive.
As expected, the post-referendum and cheaper British pound boosted London as a key European destination. The slight decline of -0.6% is an improvement when compared with previous reports. Northern Europe and South-Western Europe, along with Dubrovnik, are the fastest growing booking areas. Safety is one of the strongest prerequisites that travellers demand and the rest of Europe is being affected by the fear of terrorism.
