Europe the ‘most visited region in the world’ in 2017

Europe is still the most appealing destination and most visited region in the world in 2017, according to a report published today by Christie & Co.

The report, launched by Christie & Co’s Hotel Consultancy team, entitled ‘European Travel Trends and Hotel Investment Hot Spots’ identifies future investment opportunities in the European hotel market by highlighting areas for increasing the value of visitation in Europe.

The report also reviews the growth opportunities of feeder markets in Europe, analyses issues surrounding accessibility and airport capacity and highlighting which markets are expected to achieve strong RevPAR increases in the coming years.

Despite other reports detailing the impact of Brexit, to date, the impact on European tourism remains unseen and Christie & Co predict the general positive outlook for tourism in Europe will translate into increased demand for accommodation.

European travellers were the key source for European destinations with domestic and other European travellers accounting for almost 90% of demand.

The established feeder markets – US, Canada, Japan and Australia – continue to generate visitation growth for the European market. India and China are expected to experience healthy GDP growth over the next five years.

Anna Eck and Marine Duchesne from the hotels consultancy team at Christie & Co said: “The findings of the report show quite clearly that Europe as a destination remains extremely popular and there is huge opportunity for international brands to grow in the region. Markets such as Iceland, Poland, Denmark, Portugal and Sweden provide options for hotel chains whilst Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Sweden would be ideal for opportunistic investors willing to take more risk.

“These markets are all expected to achieve strong RevPAR increases in the coming years as well as demand growth in excess of supply.”