Presentations & Speeches
Workshop 3 Fact sheet : New Trends, New Markets

Manfred Pils, Vice President International Friends of Nature

Which new trends are shaping the European tourism industry and the tourism products?

Although the new Member States in the European Union only account for 7% of all nights spent in hotels, they recorded the highest growth in the last years. For example in 2004 according to Eurostat tourism related GDP growth was in Estonia 30%, in Poland 29%, in Latvia 16% and in the Czech Republic 10%. A rapid tourism boom is observed in these countries, since their attractiveness increased during the enlargement process of the Union.

An emerging Eco-Tourism market can also be noted. According to the Eurobarometer survey held in 1997 the beauty of landscapes, beaches and sun are the main drivers of tourism demand in Europe. 63% choose the sea as destination site, followed by mountains (25%), cities (25%) and countryside (23%). Recent surveys however also show that the tourist’s interest in natural and cultural heritage sites is growing. Leisure activities linked to direct contact with nature like mountain biking, climbing or trekking or other eco-tourism activities are one of the fastest growing tourism market segments, currently covering 7% of all international arrivals. Tourism in natural protected areas, such as national parks or agro-tourism, is certainly becoming more popular.

By the end of 2002 low-cost airlines had captured 12% of all intra-EU air capacity. According to IATA and AEA forecasts, the low cost carrier market is expected to increase to 35% of European air traffic by 2010. 75% of the LC market share is said to represent new customers. Yet this is only one side of the picture, since long-haul travel at the same time is the most rapidly growing form of tourism transport.

Another important trend in tourist behaviour is that Europeans tend to choose more often holidays with shorter stays. This may be the result of important Socio-demographic changes: The prospects of more and smaller households, higher disposable incomes and more flexible working patterns leads to even more short-break holidays and a demand for higher quality services. This development may also offer some possibilities to low season products contributing to reducing the seasonal nature of the tourism industry in Europe.

The percentage of people over 60 in Europe is growing. According to Eurostat, people over 65 years accounted for 19.5 % of all travellers in 2000, and this percentage is likely to increase. Health, spa and 'keep fit' tourism is among the segments likely to benefit from this trend. This target group increasingly spends longer periods in tourist destinations considered to provide pleasant living conditions, in particular in the South and off-season. In addition to this share 10% of tourists are already recognised as having reduced mobility and with special needs that must be catered for to enable them to fully benefit from tourism.

One can indeed note an increasing number of spa and wellness hotels all over Europe, offering experiences that are not necessarily dependent on climate. Could it be the case that some markets are reaching saturation point and that further facilities may not be feasible in specific regions?

Existing tourism statistics might be overestimating the importance of hotel accommodation. Private overnight stays are normally not recorded in statistics, even though they might be significant, such as in France where the second homes represent 73% of the national tourism bed-places capacities. We see second homes emerging in many European destinations, for example in the Alpine region, and from this trend also the time-sharing sector may benefit in a positive manner.

At the same time however, changes in tourism demand are diverse. EU citizens are asking for more quality at all levels concerning their living conditions in general, the environment, products and services. The holiday experience is very important for the citizens and is expected to provide better conditions than those at home. Tourists are becoming more and more mature, hybrid, spontaneous and are asking for different products to meet their specific needs and desires. This general trend will lead to an extreme diversity of tourism demand, and is likely to be reflected in the further evolution of other important and/or emerging markets such as the cruising sector and caravanning.

On the other side we should not underestimate other trends which may endanger the positive development of European tourism especially in certain regions. While most of these trends will lead to new tourism demand and thus create additional jobs and GDP, they may have also adverse impacts on tourism sector. For example according to Eurostat in 2003 66.4 % of Europeans travelled by road, 23.3% by air, 6.6% by train and 3.7% by sea. We have to take into account the contribution of air transport on climate change, but also the decline of mass tourism destinations that could exceed their carrying capacity or the loss of potential environmental and cultural assets, which are the basis of the tourism experience.

The workshop “New Trends and New Markets” during the European Tourism Forum 2006 in Cyprus will seek to examine how specific market trends can contribute towards tourism growth within Europe, whilst investigating the impact of such trends on the changing customer needs. The following general questions, amongst others, will be addressed:

• Which are the characteristics and assets that will make the identified trend even more attractive in the future?
• Is tourism growth in Europe possible through the future development of these new market trends?
• Are there any key sociological/demographic changes that can affect tourism demand for the identified trend?
• Can the identified trend be packaged better to meet the expectations of market segments such as senior citizens or youths?
• Are there any market trends that the tourism stakeholders are ignoring?
• How are tourism stakeholders in Europe responding to the changing consumer behaviour?