Europeans are feeling much more confident about traveling and plan to travel abroad within the coming months, a report published by the European Travel Commission (ETC) reveals.
According to the report, an ETC survey found that 66% of Europeans are planning to travel between now and March 2022, which could mean that Europeans feel more confident that they will be able to obtain the correct information of how, when, and where to travel, as well as being allowed to travel in the first place.
“66% of Europeans plan trips through March 2022, while increased confidence on when, where and how to travel indicates a positive tourism outlook for the coming months,” the report reads.
Another positive sign is that Europeans, according to the ETC survey, is that Europeans are becoming more willing to book spontaneous, short-term trips as well as to plan trips several months away. What this means is that Europeans are no longer in the “waiting mode,” where they might feel the need to just wait to book flights or other accommodations. This is supported by the survey results that found that travel plans have been spread out somewhat evenly over the next 6 months.
“For the first time since October 2020, Europeans’ travel plans are spread evenly over the next six months: 26% are opting for trips between October and November, 28% between December 2021 and January 2022, and 25% will travel in February and March 2022. These results indicate that an increasing number of Europeans are no longer in a “waiting mode” to travel and feel much more confident to embark on spontaneous trips,” the report reads.
In addition, the ETC found that about half of the people who reported making travel plans were planning to go to another European country, instead of traveling domestically. According to the report, this makes up a 41% increase of desire to travel to another country over what was recorded in September 2020, and the preference to travel domestically has fallen 32%.
More Europeans are also expressing interest in traveling to Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain, and France, which are the top travel destinations right now.
The ETC is also reporting an increase in the preference for air travel over the survey results from 2020. In total, more than half of travel-ready Europeans are reporting a preference for air travel, which could mean that Europeans are starting to trust airline travel again.
“Despite a lingering hesitancy towards air travel, over 50% of ‘travel-ready’ Europeans are now eager to switch to air transport (a 13% increase over the previous survey). This is another sign of improved consumer confidence towards using commercial flights to optimise travel times,” the report reads.
Europeans’ increased interest in traveling to other countries is a good sign that confidence in travel is being restored.
This could also be a good sign of European governments relaxing their entry restrictions for third country nationals wishing to travel to Europe for business or vacation.
Since March 2020, the EU has been entirely uncoordinated in their restrictions, which has hurt confidence among travelers worldwide in planning their trips to Europe. Between governments closing their borders, every Member State having different rules and requirements, and the rules constantly changing, the travel and tourism industry has suffered severely for about 18 months as of writing this article.
The return of intra-European travel could be a sign that this phase is over, however. More news of Europe’s recovering travel and tourism industry will be reported by Schengen-Visa.com as it is released.
