Las Ramblas in Barcelona, the target chosen by the attackers, is a popular tourist attraction. While North Africa and Turkey in particular have experienced a dramatic decline in bookings due to terror attacks, the effects on the tourism industry in Europe remain to be seen.

Close to half of all international travellers plan to change their travel behaviour

This year, for the third time, IPK International conducted a special survey on “Terror Threats and Tourism” in over 20 major source markets around the globe. The study revealed that for 45 per cent of international travellers the threat of terror attacks will have an influence on their travel plans this year, which compared to 2016 represents an increase of six percentage points. However, the latest survey exhibits regional differences between source markets in Europe, Asia as well as North and South America. Travellers from Asian source markets such as South Korea, China and Japan as well as Russia are more sensitive to terror threats and thus more likely to let instability and terror warnings influence their travel plans. In contrast, travellers from European source markets such as Denmark, Sweden and Finland are less sensitive to the threat of terror attacks. Singles are also relatively unimpressed by terror warnings, whereas people travelling with children are more cautious.

Shift in travel flows from “unsafe” to “safe” destinations

Due to the current global situation regarding safety, holidays in one’s home country have taken on a new significance: 16 per cent of international travellers polled said they will not travel in the next 12 months or will only go on domestic trips within their own country. A further 29 per cent indicated they will continue to travel abroad, however only to countries they consider “safe”. Compared to 2016, the safety perception of some travel destinations has further declined. Last year, 64 per cent of the respondents rated Turkey as “unsafe“. In 2017 the figure rose to 76 per cent.

Overall, destinations with the weakest safety image are Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Tunisia, whereas Canada, Switzerland, Australia and Scandinavia were perceived as safest. Hence, the shift in travel flows from “unsafe“ to “safe“ destinations is expected to further continue.

Further results in November

IPK International will present new data on global travel behaviour covering the period from January to August 2017 and provide a forecast for next year at the 25th anniversary World Travel Monitor® Forum in Pisa in November 2017. The conference is organised by IPK International in collaboration with ITB Berlin. The first results of the IPK special survey on travel safety will also be presented.

The World Travel Monitor® Forum is an exclusive industry event, which discusses the latest travel trends and provides an outlook for developments in tourism. A summary of the Forum’s main findings will be presented in the ITB World Travel Trends Report (click here for last year’s edition). The report “The Impact of Current Terror Threats on International Travel Behaviour“ by IPK International contains detailed information on individual source markets and destinations with regard to the influence of terror threats.

About ITB Berlin and the ITB Berlin Convention

ITB Berlin 2018 will take place from Wednesday to Sunday, 7 to 11 March. From Wednesday to Friday ITB Berlin is open to trade visitors only. ITB Berlin is the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show. In 2017 a total of 10,000 companies and organizations from 184 countries exhibited their products and services to around 169,000 visitors, who included 109,000 trade visitors. Parallel with the show the ITB Berlin Convention, the largest event of its kind, will be held from Wednesday, 7 to Saturday, 10 March 2018. Admission to the ITB Berlin Convention is free for trade visitors and exhibitors. More details are available at www.itb-berlin.com, www.itb-convention.com and at ITB Social Media Newsroom.