While travellers’ confidence in top markets like China, Japan, and Canada has dropped, more Brazilians and Americans are planning to travel to the European Member States in 2022, the European Travel Council (ETC) has revealed.
According to a survey carried out by the authority, 63 per cent of Brazilians and 45 per cent of American respondents said they want to visit the EU this year. On the other hand, 57 per cent of Chinese respondents said they’d visit the union by the end of the year, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Moreover, Russian travellers are hesitant to return for long-haul trips to the EU, with the majority of them waiting on fully lifted restrictions (45 per cent) and the availability of destinations’ attractions and activities (28 per cent). Russians, however, are the most open to bargains and deals (39 per cent), increasing the possibility for last-minute travel planning.
Although Russian respondents revealed they are hesitant to carry out any travelling throughout the year, Japanese respondents are the most sceptical about the practice as only 23 per cent of them confirmed their plans to travel outside East Asia – 15 per cent out of which thought of travelling to the EU.
The report further reveals that the age groups expected to travel more in 2022 are 18-34- and 35–49-year-olds, in comparison to those over 50. Chinese senior respondents made an exception as more than half of them shared optimism about travelling by the end of 2022.
“The desire for long-haul trips in 2022 is stronger among wealthier travellers, a trend more visible among affluent respondents in the US, Russia, and China. Meanwhile, in Brazil, income is less important, and people with mid to high income have similar sentiment for trips away from home,” the report reads.
Main Drivers for International Travelling for 2020 in Top Markets
Vaccination rates of respective countries remain the main factor to determine if international travellers want to visit the EU, as 29 per cent of respondents claimed, followed by knowing that the country effectively handles the pandemic and that health protocols are safe in leisure facilities in these countries (28 per cent each).
For American respondents, the main reason to travel is the country’s effectiveness in managing COVID- 19 situations (25 per cent) followed by vaccinations (24 per cent), facilitated travel restrictions (23 per cent), and flexible cancellation (22 per cent).
On the other hand, Chinese and Brazilian respondents shared similar thoughts as they revealed their main driver for travelling is getting vaccinated (45 per cent each), followed by pre-travel COVID-19 tests, which affect 40 per cent of Brazilian travellers and 38 per cent of Chinese. Moreover, 32 per cent of Brazilians and Chinese respondents find health and safety protocols at the destination as vital for travelling. Destinations’ vaccination rates were the main factor for travelling for 31 per cent of Chinese respondents and 27 per cent of Brazilian respondents, in addition to bargains and attractive deals – which stood at 25 per cent for Chinese.
Russian travellers have a different approach to travelling to the EU for 2022 as their decision to travel for almost half of them (45 per cent) depends on fully lifted travel restrictions and bargains, and attractive deals (29 per cent). Availability of attractions in the country of destination follows with 28 per cent of respondents claiming so while health-related issues don’t really make an impact on their confidence to travel since only 21 per cent selected health and safety protocols and the country’s effectiveness to manage the virus (19 per cent) as a concern.
On the contrary, Japanese respondents find health and safety protocols essential factors for travelling (43 per cent) and fully lifted travel restrictions (31 per cent). The remaining respondents revealed that the effectiveness to manage the Coronavirus situation in the country is important (28 per cent), followed by vaccination rates (27 per cent) and getting vaccinated against the virus (25 per cent).
Results from Canadian respondents are divided relatively equally as 30 per cent of them revealed that destination’s effectiveness to manage COVID-19 is the most important factor for travelling, 28 per cent of respondents value flexible cancellation policies, 27 per cent facilitated travel restrictions and 25 per cent the vaccination rates.
Preferred Destinations to Visit in EU for Brazilians, Canadians, Chinese, Japanese, Russians & Americans in 2022
The most preferred destination to visit by international respondents was France, except for Brazilians and Russians. In addition, more than half of each group of respondents preferred the destination’s metropolitan spots.
In addition, more than half of Brazilian respondents said they want to visit cities, and their top destinations in the EU include Portugal (47 per cent), France (41 per cent), Italy (33 per cent), Spain (25 per cent) and Germany (19 per cent).
A shared desire for metropolitan destinations in a country is shared from all international respondents, including Canadians, as 54 per cent of them claimed so. In addition, the most preferred destinations for Canadian travellers in 2022 are France (32 per cent), Italy (26 per cent) and Germany (19 per cent).
Chinese and Japanese respondents shared a common interest as all of their destinations were at identical rates – France (55 per cent), Germany (34 per cent), Denmark and Italy (31 per cent). However, the desire to visit cities is even more evident for Japanese respondents since 64 per cent of them claimed they would like to do so during their trip to the EU Member States.
American respondents also prefer to visit France for their trip to the EU in 2022 – as 36 per cent claimed, followed by Italy (30 per cent), Spain (21 per cent) and Germany (19 per cent).
However, France is not the top destination for Russian respondents as they picked Italy as their preferred destination in 2022 (20 per cent), then followed by France (18 per cent), Tukey (17 per cent), and Austria (14 per cent). In contrast to other respondents, Russians preferred coast and beach resorts (41 per cent) more than metropolitan areas.
