Long haul arrivals in Europe rested on the shoulders of Asia & Oceania markets during fourth quarter of 2014

The new results from the Air Travellers' Traffic Barometer produced by European Cities Marketing and ForwardKeys highlight that 2014 international arrivals increased by 3.2% compared to 2013 driven by long-haul markets and more particularly Asia and Middle East.

During the fourth quarter of 2014, Asia & Pacific continued driving the growth in long-haul arrivals to Europe, compensating the severe decrease in Africa (-6.9%) caused partly by the Ebola outbreak.

Regaining its bigger market share of 67% during winter season, intra-European flow, however, suffered a modest decrease of -1%, mostly due to the collapse of Russia & Ukraine markets in November and December 2014.

Yearly performance showed overall constant growths in all source subcontinents (+3.2%), despite the slowing down in the last quarter.

Solid market shares were seen in solo and couple travellers, last-month bookers, as well as vacationers staying 6 to 13 nights, for the fourth quarter of 2014. However the fastest growths were seen in group traveller (+32.7%) as well as early booker segment (+11.8%).

Current forward bookings trends for international arrivals in Europe during the first quarter of 2015 show a depressing situation for intra-regional (-0.3%) and African (-2.5%) flows while Asia & Pacific and Middle East perform above the promising average long-haul growth with respectively +17.6% and +16.1% growth compared to the first quarter of 2014.

Top 5 destinations in terms of market share remain the same for both historical and expected arrivals, among which Paris, Istanbul, and Rome stand out in advanced bookings compared to previous year.

All ECM members have exclusive access to the complete European Cities Marketing-ForwardKeys Air Travellers' Traffic Barometer with all the graphs and analysis.


This analysis is based on Air Reservation Data propriety of ForwardKeys as of December 31, 2014.
Perimeter: Includes air reservations made by passengers arriving in Europe and staying at least one night in destination, therefore excluding: "Transits", "Day trips", "One-way trips" and "Returns".
Arrival period: 1 Oct - 31 Dec 2014 vs. 1 Oct - 31 Dec 2013
Booking situation for next quarter: 1 Jan - 31 Mar 2015 vs. 1 Jan - 31 Mar 2014 according to bookings issued as of 31 Dec 2014 and as of 31 Dec 2013.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia