Worldwide, the number of outbound trips increased by 6.5 percent, reaching nearly 1.2 billion international trips last year, stated Rolf Freitag, CEO of IPK International, while presenting the first preliminary figures of the World Travel Monitor for 2017 at ITB Berlin.
IPK’s World Travel Monitor is an annual survey analysing the outbound travel behaviour in more than 60 countries worldwide, covering over 90 percent of the global outbound demand.
Although different travel risks do exist, 2017 has been an exceptionally strong year for international travel, with Europe being the main growth driver, both as a source market as well as a destination region, he noted.
For the first Time since IPK began surveying the impact of terrorism on international travel, terror sensitivity has decreased and destinations are perceived “safer” than before, the report said.
In 2017, Europe was the strongest source region for international travel with an overall increase of 7 percent compared to last year, followed by North and Latin America both recording 6 percent growth and Asia 5 percent.
Also as a destination region, Europe benefitted most, with 8 percent more trips in 2017. Looking at destinations on a country level, Spain takes the lead, with the US and Germany ranking second and third, stated the report.
France and Italy made it to the fourth and fifth spot of most successful destinations.
On the 2018 outlook, IPK said Latin America was expected to be one of the high performers with an increase of 7 percent, closely followed by Asia (over 6 percent). International travel from Europe as well as North America is forecast to grow by 4 percent each this year.