Europe travel trends: "The travel and tourism sector is proving resilient"

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe interviewed Paul Charles, Chief Executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency

Transcript

00:00It's been a good year for European tourism all-round, with total visitor spending up around 10%.

00:06And China was a big part of that upward trend.

00:09The number of Chinese tourists visiting Europe this year surged 21% on the previous year,

00:15with younger travellers leading the way.

00:19And new technology has been changing the way that people travel,

00:22with more tourists turning to AI to help plan their trips.

00:26China has the highest usage, at 40%.

00:30Paul Charles is Chief Executive at Travel Consultancy, the PCA agency.

00:35Good to see you again, Paul. Welcome back to the programme.

00:37So, Europe's tourism sector doing well, despite the cost of living crisis in many countries.

00:43Why is it doing so well?

00:45Yes, it does seem remarkable, doesn't it, that it continues to power ahead.

00:49But essentially, travel and tourism is still very much at the top of the priority list

00:54of many generations, not just young people, but older generations as well,

00:59who are making sure that they want to spend on something that makes them happy.

01:04So, the travel and tourism sector has definitely benefited.

01:08It's proving resilient, especially the cruise part of the sector,

01:11with more people taking cruises.

01:13And the two-year results today also demonstrate that as well.

01:16So, part of the upsurge and visitors are from people from a long way from Europe,

01:21from long-haul destinations, including China.

01:24What's driving demand from there?

01:27I think the Chinese economy is certainly proving resilient,

01:31and that is helping those to make a choice,

01:33Chinese citizens to make a choice to seek a flight to quality.

01:37And the European tourism market is seen as high quality.

01:42It has heritage.

01:44It has great architecture.

01:46It has terrific museums.

01:49If you think about what Europe offers, whether it's in France, Germany, the UK, Spain,

01:55these are markets which are very, very resilient to Chinese tourists

01:58because they go back so far.

02:00They have many centuries of heritage.

02:03And the Chinese traveller likes to see that.

02:05They like to experience that.

02:07It's not always theme parks, but museums, which are much older,

02:11attracting them to that market.

02:13And so, Europe as well, with its diverse food scene,

02:17is attracting many more tourists from China again.

02:20So, we mentioned TUI there with its best ever results,

02:23but a suggestion from them of slower sales growth.

02:27What do you think that says about the travel industry?

02:29Are we facing possibly a slight slowdown in the coming months?

02:34Well, the resilience remains,

02:35but undoubtedly there's some fragility.

02:39And I think TUI are essentially saying here what the whole industry is thinking,

02:44that it's doing well, that forward bookings are looking pretty good,

02:47but they don't want to run away with that optimism.

02:51And the same applies to many airlines, as well as major hotel chains.

02:56What they're saying essentially is that things are looking okay,

03:00but they don't want to predict that success too early.

03:03There's no doubt the industry has changed in terms of last-minute booking.

03:07More and more people are choosing to book within two or three weeks before they travel

03:12or before they want to stay in a hotel.

03:14And that's a far cry from how things used to be three or four years ago,

03:18when it would be three or four months before they're due to travel.

03:21So, the market is getting shorter in terms of that booking timeline.

03:26And TUI, I think, with their comments today,

03:29although still very positive, are reflecting that change in how we book.

03:32So, Europe doing well then, and we're going to talk more about this in a minute,

03:37so I don't want to go into enormous detail, but fewer people travelling to the US.

03:41Why is that?

03:44I think what you're seeing, especially over the last six months with the USA,

03:49is more markets which are thinking, well, should we go somewhere else?

03:54Canada is a good example of that because of the trade war, of course, with the USA.

03:58Canadians are voting with their feet and saying, well, we'll look to travel to Europe,

04:02or we'll go to Latin or South America instead of the USA.

04:07And so, the USA is starting to see some of its larger markets fail off a little bit.

04:13Now, that's obviously for geopolitical reasons.

04:15It's for trade tensions, but also because consumers these days want to try new markets.

04:21And so, if they've been to the USA before, they want to try out new and emerging destinations,

04:26perhaps in Latin America, like Guatemala, or in South America, like Brazil or Argentina,

04:32or indeed travel more into Europe, which the Americans themselves do, of course, outbound.

04:39So, America is suffering as a result of those tensions, those political tensions,

04:45and there's no sign of that changing at this stage.

04:47Paul, great to talk to you.

04:48Thanks so much for coming on the programme.

04:50That's Paul Charles from the PC Agency.

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