So, while demand for intra-EU travel in Europe has picked up this summer after the pandemic lull, there is still some way to go to recover the 2019 figures, according to a new analysis by ETC together with Tourism Economics, which presents the latest trends and outlook for European tourism.
The analysis is available at the following link:
Intra-European Travel
Thus, compared to the 579.6 million intra-EU travellers registered in the EU in 2019, the forecast is for 427.6 million European tourists in 2022. Nor will the pre-pandemic level be reached in 2023, with a forecast of 514.8 million arrivals.
It will take until 2024 to surpass these figures: according to the ETC trend study, a new record of 587.5 million intra-EU travellers will be reached, while in 2025 all records will be broken, with 627.5 million European travellers in Europe.
What will be the top intra-European travel destinations? In 2025, Spain will lead the ranking of countries with the highest share of these travellers, ahead of France for the first time, with 13%, compared to 12.4% for the neighbouring country, and with Italy in third place, with 9.2%.
On the other hand, the share of competitors such as Greece, Turkey and Croatia will be much lower, with 5.3%, 4.8% and 2.5% of the intra-European market, respectively.
Top markets
On the other hand, the main markets remain unchanged compared to the pre-pandemic years. The German market remains the leader, accounting for 18.6% of intra-EU travellers, followed by the British (12.4%) and French (7.1%), while the Spanish market accounts for 3.9% of these travellers.
