Publication date:
Feb 2020
Language:
English
In 2019 European tourism expanded by 4%, a more moderate pace of growth compared to 2018 (6%)[1]. Continued trade and geopolitical disruptions dragging down sentiment towards global trade, China’s group-travel ban to curb the coronavirus outbreak and weaker global economic activity are some of the factors that threaten to disrupt the tourism sector’s outlook for 2020.
Latest available data features positive numbers in terms of arrivals or overnights across most reporting destinations, although increases are slower than previous years. Only three destinations expanded in excess of 10%: Montenegro (+21%) enjoyed growth momentum shored-up by greater connectivity and infrastructure investment. Turkey (+14%) is set to heavily invest and diversify its tourism promotion activities throughout 2020 hoping to increase the number and quality of tourists and boost tourism revenues. Lithuania’s strong performance (+10%) was fuelled by increased connectivity.
[1] UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Volume 18 January 2020