Structural and legal handicaps, insufficient promotional funds, and regional competition are threatening Europe’s position as the world’s top tourist destination.

 

This is according to a panel of tourism leaders from the public and private sector, who met at World Travel Market in London earlier this week to discuss ways of reenergising the continent.

 

Eduardo Santander (left in picture), CEO of the European Travel Commission (ETC), says that while Europe reached a record 563.8m international tourist arrivals in 2013, representing a market share of almost 52%, European destinations are expected to grow by +2.1% a year on average in the coming years (see chart below and click to enlarge), 0.3% slower than previously, whereas worldwide international arrivals will grow much faster at +3.5% which will drive down the continent’s share.

 

“It is essential to increase funds to promote Europe as a unique destination, especially in third country markets, where there is growing demand,” says Santander. “If not, Europe’s share of international tourism will decline even more rapidly.”

 

EUROPE’S TOURISTS SPEND LESS

Additionally, while tourism traffic in Europe is over half of the world market at 52%, spending only makes up 42% of global tourism expenditure based on European tourism receipts of €368.5bn ($492m).

 

The lower spending rates are due to the fact that half of all international arrivals to Europe are currently generated by just eight markets, chiefly intra-regional. These markets, mostly EU, are all showing modest growth rates and the ETC argues that more focus should be diverted to attract visitors from a larger portfolio of markets, especially in the fast growing overseas economies.

 

CHINA & RUSSIA ONLY AT 7%

“Some emerging markets such as Russia and China have become much more important recently, with strong growth in household wealth and spending power. However, these two markets combined still only represented 7% of tourism arrivals in 2013,” says Martin Craigs, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). “China remains of strategic importance for destinations in Europe in the medium to long term for its immense growth potential.”

 

 

However, the current highly complex regulatory framework, separate visa policies and air passenger duty are all handicaps and “prevent these people from visiting” claims Tom Jenkins (centre in picture), CEO of the European Tourism Association, ETOA. “These are priority areas that need to be addressed urgently by the relevant authorities.”

 

Jenkins also believes that attention to the US as an origin market has dwindled, which could be a significant issue going forward since outbound tourism from the US still dwarfs that of emerging markets.

 

Pedro Ortún (right in picture), Director Tourism of the European Commission, says that tourism can be a powerful tool to fight against the short and long-term structural challenges that Europe has recently faced, such as aging populations, the euro crisis and growing (youth) unemployment.

 

“Tourism contributes 9% of GDP and 10% of the workforce in the EU,” Ortún claims. “Since 95% of enterprises in tourism are SMEs, tourism encourages the entrepreneurial spirit and ensures jobs for Europeans instead of creating outsourced jobs to other countries. It is the Commission’s aim to ensure Europe’s visibility as a unique destination and we are implementing several initiatives to support tourism growth.”

 

NEW PROGRAMME

One of those initiatives is ‘Destination Europe 2020’, a joint programme with the ETC, to promote Europe, based on market intelligence, industry consultation and a greater use of technology.

 

The debate was followed by the unveiling of the new VisitEurope.com portal (below), built by ETC´s technology partner Amadeus in conjunction with the international travel marketing alliance Travel Consul. The site is the result of nearly 20 years of online experience and extensive research conducted over the past two years.

 

The new site is optimised for mobile devices and is located at www.visiteurope.com in its beta version in English. Further language versions in French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Japanese will follow before the end of the year.