Europe Chalked Up Another Record Year in 2005

The European Travel Commission´s second annual report on the state of the travel and tourism industry, shows that Europe enjoyed another record tourism year in 2005, with arrivals up more than 4 percent over 2004.

The result is especially impressive given that Europe suffered more than its share of disasters in 2005 –from terrorist attacks to floods, droughts and forest fires.

Moreover, the economic and political environment was not overly conducive to travel and tourism growth in all countries.

Some 18 million additional arrivals were generated by the growth, 43 percent of the world increase in 2005, reflecting Europe´s continued dominance as a world tourism region, as well as its importance as a source market.

The big winner in terms of arrivals growth was Turkey (+21 percent), but a number of other destinations also recorded strong double-digit spikes, including Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco and Greece.

“Although France and Italy registered disappointing results for the second consecutive year, there has been no change in the top five European rankings of arrivals and receipts,” said Rob Franklin, ETC Executive Director. “France still leads in terms of arrivals, ahead of Spain, Italy, the UK and Germany, but it takes second place to Spain in the international receipts´ ranking.”

Despite fairly widespread concerns over bird flu and the prospects of renewed terrorist attacks and natural disasters –incidents of which have already had impacts on travel demand this year- prospects for 2006 remain bullish.

In line with forecasts from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), ETC is projecting overall growth for the region in the neighborhood of 2 to 3 percent.