The new results from the ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report highlight differences between destinations but also continuity in the positive trends since 2013 for almost all European countries partly thanks to a variety of big international events.
For the first semester of 2014, most European cities followed a positive trend with an occupancy rate increasing by 1.6 points over 2013. It pursues 2013’s trend where the occupancy rate increased, for the first 8 months, by 1.3 points over the year before.
With its solid business tourism, Germany experienced a strong increase in its Average Daily Rate with Düsseldorf in pole position. Hamburg midscale and upscale segments also performed quite well in the first term of 2014, mostly thanks to corporate and MICE business as well as national and international trade fairs, (e.g. Aircraft EXPO, IN‐cosmetics or Internoga). Some leisure events such as Hamburg Port Festival and Marathon (both in May) had positive impact on the overall hotel performance too.
European cities note a slight progression while in the first part of the year, however many cities in France (like Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse or Nice) presented a downtrend due to the drop of the occupancy rate. Paris is no exception with a negative change in its revenue per available room (-2.5%).
Ignasi De Delàs, president of European Cities Marketing commented: “Our last ECM City Tourism Monitors4 published in January and April 2014 outlined that predictions from city tourism experts were optimistic, with 64% of respondents expecting a positive first quarter and 73% expecting a positive second quarter. It was also revealed that “Future Events” was the Number 1 factor mentioned by the experts that would have a positive impact on the growth. The actual results show that the forecasts from the city tourism experts are pretty close to the actual results.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
