EUROPE. Heraklion in Crete leads a list of Europe’s most resilient travel destinations for Q4 2020. That’s according to the latest edition of the ECM-ForwardKeys Quarterly Barometer, published jointly by ForwardKeys and European Cities Marketing.
As of 27 October, total inbound flight bookings for the EU and the UK, for the fourth quarter of 2020, were -85.6% behind where they were at the equivalent time last year.
In a ranking of the EU’s most resilient cities (those with at least a 1% share of international arrivals), all are major leisure destinations.
Top of the list, as noted above, is Heraklion, the capital of Crete, where flight bookings are only -25.4% behind their 2019 level. In second place is Faro, -48.7% behind last year. The next three positions are taken by Athens (-71.4%), Naples (-73.4%) and Larnaca (-74.2%). The cities in the second half of the list, in descending order, are Porto (-74.5%); Palma Mallorca (-74.6%), Stockholm (-75.8%), Malaga (-78.2%) and Lisbon (-78.8%).
Paris, which is normally Europe’s second most popular destination, climbed to top spot overall for flight bookings, even though these were -82.3% behind 2019 levels.
ForwardKeys VP Insights Olivier Ponti said: “When one digs into the data behind these headline numbers, we see that people are still making travel plans; and within those plans there are five clear trends.
“First, leisure and personal travel is holding up much better than business travel, which is virtually non-existent right now. Second, bookings are dominated by the Christmas holiday period.
“Third, people are booking at even shorter notice than usual, probably wary of travel restrictions being imposed without warning. Fourth, fares are consistently on the low side, with airlines doing everything in their power to tempt back travellers; and fifth, destinations which have remained open to EU travel, such as Stockholm, have suffered relatively less badly.”
ECM President Petra Stušek concluded: “Once again the ECM-ForwardKeys Air Travellers’ Traffic Barometer allows us, as destination marketing organisations (DMOs), to identify trends which, in this time of crisis, are clearly different from what we experienced last year.
“Since 2013 ForwardKeys has provided ECM Members with a quarterly report that gives us important data on air traffic and an interesting analysis of tourist activities in our territories. The data from the latest barometer show the power and resilience of cities, even though the meetings industry is still running behind; and the past months were very difficult for city tourism. This challenging time is frustrating for stakeholders within destinations and for DMOs. At ECM, we are developing various tools and content to support our members on their path to recovery.”
