According to the European Travel Commission’s (ETC) latest ‘European Tourism Trends and Prospects’ report, in 2019, Europe witnessed a healthy 4% increase in tourist arrivals compared to 2018. While the rate of expansion was slower than previous years across certain individual destinations, the overall regional performance was positive.
Increasing numbers of tourist arrivals create more income and support employment and investment in Europe, acting not only as an important vehicle for economic growth, but also contributing to and demonstrating the social and cultural value in the region.
Montenegro, Turkey, and Lithuania registered double-digit increases in tourist arrivals, and Portugal, Serbia Slovakia and the Netherlands also did better than the average.
Montenegro’s 21% increase was supported by greater connectivity and infrastructure investment, while Turkey is gearing up to invest heavily and diversify its tourism promotion activities throughout 2020 for increasing the volume and quality of tourists.
Increased air connectivity has helped Lithuania’s performance, while the recent award of most “Accessible Tourist Destination 2019” to Portugal shows the country’s efforts towards upholding accessible tourism. Visa relaxation policies and bilateral business relations between destinations and source markets are also crucial factors for encouraging travel, particularly in Serbia.
However, all European destinations didn’t witness the same growth and positivity. In Romania, challenges related to infrastructure and tourism promotion remain, while the downfall of WOW Air and a strong Krona are behind the steep decline in arrivals to Iceland.
