EUROPE. Outbound traffic from Europe to Asia Pacific is forecasted to grow +15.8% over the next 12 months, according to a new report from m1nd-set.
The Swiss research agency says travel to Africa will also surge (+10%), but travel to the US (less than +1%) and Europe (less than +2%) will not be as dynamic.
Source: m1nd-set
European travel over the past twelve months (to Q1 2018) has increased by just under +6% but the growth rate is set to decline over the next 12 months when outbound traffic from Europe will be up by just over +3%, m1nd-set said.
The new report, which draws on traffic data from m1nd-set’s Business 1ntelligence Service (B1S) tool, also shows that over the past 12 months over 220 million trips were taken by Europeans within Europe (excluding travel within the same country). That figure accounts for over three quarters of all outbound European traffic.
Asia Pacific was the second most popular destination, accounting for 6.2% of traffic with 19 million travellers. North America is in third position with 17 million trips, followed by Africa with 16 million outbound trips.
Looking at European destinations, Spain was the most visited country over the past 12 months with 40 million trips over the past twelve months. It was followed by the UK (29 million), Germany (18 million), Italy (17.5 million) and France (13 million).
In the next twelve months Greece and Turkey will see the strongest declines in visitors according to m1nd-set’s B1S. Italy and France will see more moderate decreases, with -5% and -7% reductions in arrivals respectively.
Destinations which are set to see an increase in European travellers over the next year include Poland (+15%), Germany (+12%) and Switzerland (+10%).
Source: m1nd-set
“The B1S and m1nd-set methodology enables brands and retailers to see where the key destinations will be in the peak travel months, who will be travelling there, as well as the shopper behaviour of the key nationalities for each destination,” said m1nd-set owner and CEO Peter Mohn.
“Spanish destinations will again top the charts, with four cities in the top five destinations for this summer. The other is Amsterdam, which will be the second most visited European airport by Europeans this summer.”
Mohn also reflected on the touchpoints with which to engage travellers, and how these influence the purchasing decision.
“Europeans tend to interact with store staff considerably less than travellers from other world regions, Asia in particular,” he said. “But for those who do, the staff engagement generally tends to positively influence the purchase decision.”
M1nd-set Travel Retail Research Director Clara Perez said the new report highlighted the importance of experiences for today’s international traveller – whether cultural or retail.
“Over half of European travellers state that the instore experience is a clear purchase driver for them,” she said. “This has prompted us at m1nd-set to work more closely with partners within the industry and demonstrate through our studies the importance of generating and curating unique retail experiences.
“We see that engaging, exciting and entertaining customers more in the store can have a significant impact on the awareness of a brand, duty free shop or airport thanks, for the most part, to the viral nature of the user generated content and story telling that is created by the consumers themselves.”
