According to the Long-Haul Travel Barometer 1/2022 released on Monday by the European Travel Commission (ETC), consumer confidence in long-haul travel to Europe is recovering from its 2021 low.
The ETC report addresses travel sentiments and intentions for January-April 2022 and CY 2022 in these 6 key long-haul markets:
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- Japan
- Russia
- USA
Metric used is a numerical scale on which 100 represents essentially indifference toward travel, greater than 100 represents positive attitude, and less than 100 represents negative attitude.
Indices by source market for all of 2022 are:
- Brazil and USA: 104 - essentially the pre-COVID level of desire to travel
- Canadians at 100 seem to be on the fence.
- Chinese: Although 57% of survey respondents said they want to visit Europe before the end of 2022, current index is 98, indicating lingering hesitancy.
- Russians at 94 are skeptical about traveling to Europe in 2022, for reasons including continuing travel restrictions and uncertainty as to the availability of attractions and activities.
- Japanese travel sentiment remains weak but relatively stable at 99 vs. 98 a year ago.
But travel sentiment for January-April 2022 is somewhat more worrisome:
- US sentiment improved slightly from 98 to 99 vs. January-April 2021, with preference for Southern and Western European destinations and metropolitan areas.
- Canadians want to visit metropolitan areas in France, Italy, the UK and Germany, and are also interested in cycling and road and rail trips.
- Brazilians at 95 (vs. 94 in 2021) are also interested in visiting metropolitan areas, despite concerns about high cost.
- Russians at 92 are skeptical because of high cost and COVID restrictions, but have interest in cities and beach resorts with milder climates as well as lower-cost Eastern Europe.
- Chinese sentiment at 94 reached a new level in January-April 2022, with 63% of survey respondents citing COVID as primary concern - but only 2% were worried about cost. Food and wildlife are key drivers.
- Japanese sentiment re Europe at 97 is much higher than that re long-haul travel in general (54) - but only 15% said they plan to visit Europe in January-April, and only 44% said they plan to travel at all in that period.
The ETC expects that global vaccine rollouts will help European tourism to recover, though "full recovery will take some time."
