European Travel Commission report
The European Travel Commission (ETC) has released the outcome from the recent travel sentiment survey and the highlight is more than half of the respondents intend to travel in the next six months.
The ETC report (Wave 2), co-funded by the European Union, is based on the response of 5,876 adult citizens of ten European source markets – Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Poland and Austria. The findings refer to the wider tourism industry but could be significant for study travel agencies and language providers in the key destination countries.
53.6 per cent of respondents indicated they would take a trip either domestically or within Europe within the next six months, a number that is almost the same as the result from the research (Wave 1) conducted in August.
ETC Executive Director, Eduardo Santander, stated that the latest numbers show that Europeans’ wish for travel stays strong despite the lockdowns and travel restrictions across Europe. EU governments should take steps and find practical solutions to restart travel operations safely.
The nation with the highest intention to travel according to the survey was Poland (77%), followed by Italy (59.7%), Germany (57.5), Spain (54.2) and Belgium (53.6).
The intention to travel increased in Germany, Belgium and Italy with the comparison to the first wave research from August. Meanwhile, travellers from Belgium were most likely to travel to another European country (50.3), while those from Switzerland had the highest desire to travel outside of Europe (15.9).
As far as the age of travellers is concerned, 56.3 % of 45-54 years old respondents were most likely to travel while the youngest group of respondents of 18-24 years old shown the lowest intention to travel with 46.7%.
The most likely visited destination for the next six months was Spain, chosen by 7.7 per cent, followed by Italy (7.5) and France (6.8).
The survey also found that 45.1 % of respondents indicated that they would reschedule a planned trip as soon as a vaccine is available to them. Respondents from Spain were the most likely to travel after vaccine (62.4 %), followed by Poland (57) and the UK (51.7).
The factors in travel decision-making influencing the travellers were that flexible cancellation policies with 10.4 %, the launch of a vaccine (10) and the full lifting of travel restrictions (9.5).
ETC recommended for travel sector businesses to create a simple, transparent cancellation policy as the flexible cancellation is now the primary factor in travel decision-making and making the booking amongst the travellers.
The biggest concern for travellers is the quarantine measures in the travel destination (14.3 %), followed by falling ill in the destination (13.2) and rising Covid-19 cases in the destination (12.8).
In spite of a strong wish to travel, 34.3% of respondents did not know when they will next travel, and 11.2% said they did not know the destination of their next trip.
Some countries try to help the situation, for example, arrivals to England in the UK that are not of the safe travel countries will be able to reduce the self-isolation period from 14 to five days with a private Covid-19 test, hoping that the new variant of the virus will not affect the restriction in 2021.
The situation is still changing and not stable with rules and restrictions in place but the desire to travel is bringing hope to the travel sector.
