The presence of plenty of business and leisure opportunities the European tourism sectors showed growth in the number of international tourist arrivals. According to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, the looming ‘no deal’ Brexit and a sluggish global economy cannot be discounted while the real opportunity is in involving all stakeholders to develop sustainable and inclusive tourism.
The number of international tourist arrivals in Europe reached 713 million in 2018, a 6% increase over 2017 as per the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Aditi Dutta Chowdhury, Economic Research Analyst at GlobalData, commented that enhanced air connectivity within Europe and between the regions at lower cost offered by budget carriers such as EasyJet and Ryanair, and key long-haul markets are facilitating the diversification of source markets.
There are imminent risks like Brexit , sluggish global economy, protectionist policies,trade tension and geopolitical tensions which are likely to hamper consumer confidence and in turn tourism growth in Europe.
Apart from the two major cities London and Paris, the top destinations in Europe region are either having coastal lines or are rich in culture and history.
In 2018, London welcomed more than 19 million international tourists and is the main functional hub of Europe and has a variety of choices for leisure tourists. It is the first choice for international tourists among the European destinations.
Among all the cities in the world, Paris hosts maximum number of international meetings and congress events. From around the globe more than 50% overnight tourists visited Paris to attend the cultural and business events.
In 2018, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) travel and tourism accounted for 9.7 percent of Europe’s overall GDP. Even though there are large employment generator, the tourism sector growth potentially put risk for the popular destinations considering the sustainability. By adopting the right policy at local government level there can be a balance between growing tourism and quality of the people living in tourism destinations.
