ETC releases their quarterly report “European Tourism 2009: Trends & Prospects” The new trends for the European travel industry show both optimism and some even more worrying times ahead.

A recent report by ETC (European Travel Commission) called European Tourism 2009: Trends & Prospects shows some interesting aspects in the future of tourism in Europe. It is no secret that the airline industry has been suffering on a global scale in recent times and that tourists now tend to spend less time on holiday or travelling on business due to the threat of financial restrictions. The report sheds light on how these changes in current times relate to the future of tourism in Europe.

The first discovery of note is that shorter stays in hotels are likely to remain a common feature of travel. As a result, room demand in general is expected to drop by around 5-10% and the construction of hotels and other types of lodgings is set to be put on hold for quite a while. As long as people continue to talk about the crisis, fear will stay in the traveler’s mind and the amount spent on hotels is sure to remain low. This will not change as long as the word ‘crisis’ is in the air.

The same can be said about the airline industry, which has been perhaps the second biggest victim of the global crisis behind the Icelandic banking system. Only Austria reported positive results for incoming air traffic whereas the situation elsewhere shows than consumer demand for air travel continues to fall.

On a more general note, the quarterly report shows that there will be a contraction in the GDP of most countries in 2009. The global rate of decline is slowing down but this does not mean that the situation is in any way pleasant. Worldwide commodity prices are set to slowly increase.