To better understand and respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel in Europe, the European Travel Commission (ETC) and MINDHAUS, a tourism marketing agency and member of V+O Group, are launching a research project to monitor sentiment for domestic and intra-European travel through extensive market research and consumer behaviour insights.
The COVID-19 outbreak and travel restrictions to curb the spread of the virus have had a severe impact on the European tourism sector. The scale of this crisis is unprecedented, and the impact has been felt in all European countries with visitor arrivals to Europe forecast to decline by 54% in 2020[1]. As European countries have eased restrictions and while the pandemic is still in progress, understanding the sentiment for domestic and intra-regional travel is critical to effectively support European destinations in their efforts towards a resilient and long-term recovery.
The project will focus on monitoring sentiment, drivers and behaviours for domestic and intra-European travel based on quantitative market research[2] in ten high-volume European source markets, namely Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Poland and Austria. Key findings and recommendations for destinations and tourism authorities will be made available in six monthly reports starting in September 2020.
Eduardo Santander, ETC Executive Director, commented on the project launch: “Now is a crucial moment to closely monitor the shifts and trends in travel sentiment in Europe to help European destinations develop their recovery strategies. We are excited to launch this project, with MINDHAUS, which will turn into a major trend watch for the European tourism sector over the next months.”
Theofilos Kyratsoulis, MINDHAUS General Manager, said: “It is both an honour and a recognition for our team to be working with ETC and to be supporting European destinations and the tourism sector, in order to better understand the “new normal” and navigate towards recovery through these very turbulent times.”
This project is co-funded by the European Union to support the tourism recovery in Europe.
[1] ETC – European Tourism Trends & Prospects – Quarterly Report 2/2020
[2] The research will be probing a total of 36,000 respondents in six monthly waves for their short-term travel intentions domestically and within Europe
