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No more ‘normal’ years for travel and tourism
The travel industry can no longer expect a ‘normal’ year due to terrorism, natural disasters, health crises and other challenges, a new report warns.
While major events such as the World Cup in Germany and the Winter Olympics in Turin should boost tourism next year but past experience shows that big events often have the opposite impact, the World Travel Market UK & European Travel Report said.
European inbound and outbound tourism growth, expected to reach 4% this year, is forecast by the report to decline to 2-3% in 2006.
The growth in international tourism receipts and expenditure on travel will be slightly lower due to the forecast continuation of a trend for short, but more frequent trips.
The requirement for visas and the “lengthy bureaucratic procedures” and high costs involved in obtaining them is seen as an impediment to tourism growth.
Increased online booking which as resulted in some markets reducing their hard copy brochures has affected smaller destinations in Europe that have been dropped from brochures, the report claims.
While leisure travel continued to be the main driver of growth, business travel is recovering but there are big changes in the sector.
“Decisions are being taken by financial rather than marketing directors, and there are signs that the value of business tourism is declining in some countries,” the report states.
At the same time, incentive travel is increasingly combined with business meetings to justify costs, save on tax and maximise employee motivation.
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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