International tourism recovered strongly in 2010 from the global financial and economic crisis as consumer demand for leisure travel improved. The worldwide number of outbound trips rose 7% last year to 711 million after a 4% drop in 2009, according to preliminary results from IPK International’s World Travel Monitor presented at the ITB Berlin Future Day on March 9, 2011. This is a new all-time high record in terms of trips…
International tourism recovered strongly in 2010 from the global financial and economic crisis as consumer demand for leisure travel improved. The worldwide number of outbound trips rose 7% last year to 711 million after a 4% drop in 2009, according to preliminary results from IPK International’s World Travel Monitor presented at the ITB Berlin Future Day on March 9, 2011. This is a new all-time high record in terms of trips.
The number of overnight stays went up by 5% to 5.7 billion. This was an improvement after a sharp drop in 2009 but the total remained below the 2008 level. Similarly, international travel spending increased 7% to €781 billion last year, which was a good recovery from 2009 but the spending figure remained below the all-time high recorded in 2008.
“World travel and tourism clearly recovered last year from the financial and economic crisis although we are not yet fully back at the record levels of 2008,” said Rolf Freitag, founder and CEO of IPK International. “European outbound travel picked up well last year, however, a new all-time high could not be reached.” Looking ahead to this year, Freitag commented: “We are pretty optimistic for 2011. International tourism will profit from the improving economic conditions around the world and recent developments in North Africa and the Middle East are unlikely to depress overall demand. There will probably be shifts in demand for different destinations, however.”
Europeans seek out culture trips
Europeans went travelling again in greater numbers last year than in 2009 but business remained below the high levels achieved in 2008, the World Travel Monitor showed. The number of outbound trips went up by 2% to 402 million following a 6% decline in 2009. The number of overnight stays was stable at 3.5 billion but had previously slumped by 12% in 2009. Furthermore, spending on outbound trips declined a further 1% last year to €330 billion following a 13% drop in 2009.
In terms of holiday types, Europeans went city-hopping last year, with the number of city breaks up strongly by 13%. The number of tours also grew well, by 6%, and there was a slight 1% rise for beach holidays. Holidays in the countryside declined by 12%, however.
Russia booms as UK drops back
There were ups and downs among the main source markets in Europe last year, the IPK figures showed. The European source market showing the biggest drop last year was Great Britain with a 4% fall while the German market declined by 1% in terms of the overall number of outbound trips.
In contrast, Russia achieved a remarkable comeback, generating a 19% rise in outbound trips last year, after declining in 2009. Switzerland also grew strongly (+8%), the Spanish outbound market increased 4% and French outbound trips were 2% higher. There were slight increases of 1% for the Netherlands and Italy, as well.
Further positive development in total German market
The German total market (domestic and outbound trips) showed further positive development last year, according to latest World Travel Monitor data. Germans undertook 310 million domestic and outbound trips in 2010 (+3%) and the number of overnight stays was 5% higher at 1.6 billion nights. Importantly for the tourism sector, the number of holidays went up by 2%, representing 45% of the total travel market. Business travel (+5%) and private travel (+2%) also grew. Total German travel spending returned to 2008 levels with a 5% increase to €132 billion.
However, there was a clear trend towards domestic trips within Germany, with a 4% rise to 238 million trips. Foreign trips fell back 1% to 72 million. “This trend towards more trips within Germany and fewer foreign trips is a trend that we have observed for several years now,” commented IPK chief Rolf Freitag.
Germans go on more domestic holidays
In terms of holiday travel, Germans also showed a preference for holidays within their own country last year. The number of domestic holidays rose by 3% to 89.3 million while the number of foreign holidays went up by just 1% to 50.7 million. This reinforced the trend seen in 2009 when domestic holidays rose 2% but foreign holidays declined by 4%. The domestic holiday market share last year rose from 63% to 64%.
Once again there was no change regarding the top three outbound holiday destinations for Germans. In 2010 however, Austria was in first place (17% market share), followed by Spain (15%) and Italy (13%). Austria gained market share while Spain and Italy dropped back slightly. The other most popular foreign holiday destinations for Germans last year were Turkey (7%), France (5%), the Netherlands (5%), Greece (3%) and Croatia (3%). In terms of domestic destinations, Bavaria, with 18.3 million holiday trips, remained twice as popular as second- and third-placed Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg.
Outlook 2011
Although the financial crisis is not yet over, the world economy is recovering and the tourism industry will further benefit from this recovery. IPK expects global tourism growth of 3-4% in 2011, although the tourism world will remain divided.
In the “new world” – the emerging markets – tourism demand will grow by 10% in Asia, 7% in Africa and 5% in Latin America. The “old world” – Europe and North America – is still in a phase of consolidation with modest growth rates of 2%.
According to the latest surveys of IPK’s World Travel Monitor® changes are expected in the travel and booking behavior. Thus, more off-season trips and a further increase in internet bookings are expected. Social media and smart phone use as sources of information or help with actual travel planning will also increase.
The (preliminary) results presented above are based on IPK International’s World Travel Monitor® is the world’s sole and largest tourism study monitoring the pulse of international tourism. The World Travel Monitor® data derives from representative surveys undertaken in 60 countries. More than 500,000 interviews are conducted around the globe every year.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
