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Insights from Skift State of Travel Europe 2015

Skift has become a leading source of travel related news in the past two years. State of Travel Europe 2015 is Skift’s first report for 2015 on regional conditions in the travel industry. This post pulls data from the 109 page report that I find interesting.

Europe has the highest share of international tourist arrivals at 40% of global traffic. Small countries concentrated within Europe and highly developed infrastructure for transportation and tourism makes Europe the top traveler destination globally.

International Tourist Arrivals Market Share

  1. Europe 41% 588 million
  2. Asia 30%
  3. Americas 14%
  4. Middle East 8%
  5. Africa 7%

Europe has the most international tourists.

The EU voted to ban mobile device roaming charges beginning December 15, 2015.

Most searched destinations in Europe (Q4 2014)

  1. London
  2. Paris
  3. Barcelona
  4. Berlin

Most searched destinations for summer 2015 travel

Five of top 10 destinations in Spain with Mallorca (1), Alicante (2), Malaga (4), Barcelona (7), Ibiza 8.

Most of the other destinations were USA with Los Angeles (4), New York (5), San Francisco (9) and Miami (10). Bangkok came in at #5.

OTA hotel bookings are greater share than direct online bookings

48% of travel bookings in Europe are from online travel agencies (OTA). US is second with 43%.

For hotel bookings, OTA bookings outpace the hotel chain’s own website bookings by more than 2-to-1. The majority of hotel bookings at 56% worldwide are not made online through the hotel chain’s website or an OTA. This indicates that half of travelers are not interested in loyalty program points and miles or satisfied with OTA loyalty program benefits for hotels.

Top OTA site in Europe is Skyscanner.net

Skyscanner.net had 57.5 million visitors in May 2014 with 63.6% of visitors from UK. I like Skyscanner.com in addition to Kayak and Google Flights for finding airfare deals.

Skyscanner ARN-LGW 163

TripAdvisor country specific sites are the top travel sites for UK, France and Italy with TripAdvisor.co.uk (25 million), TripAdvisor.fr (12.3 million) and TripAdvisor.it (10.4 million). Last Minute.com is another popular OTA with 6.4 million monthly visitors. Airbnb Uk and Airbnb France round out the top travel websites in Europe.

Most Traveled Airports by seats

  1. London Heathrow LHR 1,744,081
  2. Paris CDG 1,403,138
  3. Frankfurt FRA 1,336,073
  4. Amsterdam AMS 1,103,611
  5. Madrid MAD 1,014,170
  6. Munich MUC 838,699
  7. Rome FCO 832,415
  8. Barcelona BCN 700,911
  9. London Gatwick LGW 700,602
  10. Paris Orly ORY 632,008

RyanAir largest European airline by Seats

RyanAir passenger traffic leads Europe with 1,634,094 with Lufthansa in second at 1,306,073 and easyjet in third with 1,113,720. Air France, British Airways, SAS, KLM, Norwegian Air and Alitalia round out the top airlines.

Low Cost Carrier airlines (LCC) account for 26% of all Europe air travel.

Largest hotel occupancy rates in Europe

  1. Edinburgh 83% occupancy, ADR € 94.80
  2. London  82.9% occupancy, ADR € 172.30
  3. Paris  82% occupancy, ADR € 158.50
  4. Dublin 79.5% occupancy, ADR € 96.50
  5. Amsterdam 75.5% occupancy, ADR € 121.20

Top 10 Hotel Groups by Number of Rooms

  1. Accor Hotels 260,000 rooms
  2. Best Western 90,000
  3. IHG  85,000
  4. Louvre Hotel Group  70,000
  5. Whitbread 55,000
  6. Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group 54,000
  7. Hilton Worldwide  53,000
  8. Melia Hotels International  50,000
  9. NH Hoteles  50,000
  10. Marriott International  45,000

U.S. Travelers choose Europe over other regions

Europe is the leading destination for millennial travelers globally. Among most travelers from the US, millennials and baby boomers choose Europe more frequently than any other global region.

U.S. Travelers Age 50+ Top Destinations

  1. Europe 36%
  2. Caribbean/South America 27%
  3. Asia/Middle East 12%
  4. Other 14%
  5. Italy 6%
  6. UK 6%
  7. France 5%
  8. cruise 5%
  9. Germany 4%
  10. South Pacific 3%
  11. Canada 3%
  12. Mexico 3%
  13. Jamaica 3%
  14. Aruba 2%

45% of U.S. travelers age 50+ plan at least one international trip in 2015.

You can download Skift’s State of Travel Europe 2015 110-page report here with lots more data on business travel, cruise travel, airport and hotel data and sharing economy data.

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3 Comments

  • JustSaying May 1, 2015

    So what is your take away for best tools coming out of this report? What should we be doing differently to book premium airfare and premium hotels going to Europe?

  • Ric Garrido May 1, 2015

    Premium airfare is not a focus for my travels or writing.

    Here is my budget travel advice.

    Obviously low cost carriers are the major carriers in Europe. I advocate getting to Europe by whatever low cost means you can and taking LCC flights to move around within Europe. That can save hundreds of dollars on the cost to fly direct to the city where you want to be.

    My takeaway is Best Western is a hotel chain with lots of rooms in Europe. The deal with Best Western are low season dates can have very low reward night cost.

  • Charles Clarke May 6, 2015

    “48% of travel bookings in Europe are from online travel agencies (OTA). US is second with 43%. For hotel bookings, OTA bookings outpace hotel own website bookings by more than 2-to-1. The majority of hotel bookings at 56% are not done online. This indicates that half of travelers are not interested in loyalty program points and miles or satisfied with OTA loyalty program benefits for hotels.”

    Took me a while to realize you were taking about two different types of bookings here. I kept on trying to add 48% and 56% and wondering where the others fit in…

    If they aren’t booking online, then how would they be “satisfied with OTA loyalty program benefits for hotels.”? Isn’t an Online Travel Agency online by definition? Or are you saying that the satisfaction comes from the possibly up to almost 30% ((100-56) * 2/3) of OTA bookings?

    Although I haven’t read the report, which may say differently, my guess is that a good chunk of those 56% are from rooms booked through company travel agencies. Most of my girlfriend’s travel is booked that way and she earns points and status. So, not a lack of interest in points and miles, but company policy.

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