European Cities Marketing, which unites 110 cities across the continent, has launched its ECM Benchmarking Report and the ECM Meetings Statistics Report covering statistics for 2019, respectively on bednights and meetings in Europe. These reports show the healthy growth of the tourism and meetings industries before the pandemic and also post healthy figures that are unlikely to be returned at similar high levels for a long time, the association notes.
In spite of the challenging times, the importance of city tourism remains unquestionable and, in a context of strong competition among urban tourism destinations around the globe, knowledge of the meetings industry in Europe remains paramount for many cities.
“It is hard to believe how much the situation has changed in the past year. These reports can serve to prove the evident economic significance of city tourism which is the most dominant and dynamic aspect of European tourism. European cities are highly resilient, and despite political shocks and terrorist attacks, they have remained the most attractive spots for visitors from all over the world. They attract people and encourage them to thrive. It is essential to understand where we were before the crisis and to strive towards these targets in our recovery efforts.” says Petra Stušek, ECM president.
The 119 European cities included in the benchmarking report achieved an average growth rate of 4.4%, up slightly on the 2018 year’s growth rate of 4.2%. The top five performing cities in terms of total bednights for 2019 were the usual suspects: London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Istanbul, with Istanbul also recording the highest growth rate (+14.1%).
Altogether, European city destinations represented 690 million tourist bednights last year. In addition, the average growth rate of bed capacity for the ECM Report cities gained momentum with an increase of 4.9% in 2019, while the highest bed occupancy rates were recorded in Dublin (85.7%), London (83.6%), and Rome (78.1%).
Europe’s main source markets (Russia, China, the United States, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Spain, and Italy), all showed an increase in 2019. Italy posted a double-digit increase in 2019 (+17.5%), followed by Germany (+5.3%) and Japan (+4.1%), whereas the lowest growth rate was recorded in the UK market (+0.2%). Cities also grew faster than other regions (+4.4% versus +1.5%).
The results of the ECM Meetings Statistics Report show a meetings average growth rate of 7.6% in 2019 in European Cities.
This year’s edition of the reports was based upon data reported by 46 ECM member cities. The total number of meeting participants rebounded in 2019, with an increase of 49.2% compared to 2018. Likewise, the total number of participant days reported between 2018 and 2019 saw a similar increase of 47.6%. These data indicate that, in general, 2019 saw a slight increase in number of meetings held, but also a strong increase in the number of participants attending meetings.
Future expectations for the meetings industry seriously impacted by the Covid-19 crisis and 26 of the 46 cities providing data for the ECM Meetings Statistics Report also provided responses to questions regarding future expectations for the meetings industry in their city. These data serve as a barometer indicating early industry projections and very strong negative impacts to the meetings industry are, not surprisingly, expected in 2020, with international meetings being hit especially hard. Because of this crisis a great deal of volatility has been introduced to the meetings industry and no real consensus emerges for what 2021 may bring.
“The development of hybrid meetings during the Covid-19 crisis has changed our industry forever and in terms of number of participants that are traveling for meetings we may not come back to the figures from 2019. Still, the tourism sector is in a unique position to contribute to wider recovery plans and actions. Despite this challenging scenario, 89% of DMOs are almost in total agreement that the crisis will lead travel and tourism towards a more sustainable future,” says Stušek.
ECM members can access the complete ECM Benchmarking Report and ECM Meetings Statistics Report with all the graphs and analysis. They can be ordered from http://www.europeancitiesmarketing.com/ecm-benchmarking-report
“The purpose of these reports is to highlight the thriving of the tourism sector over the year 2019, which was especially good for the leisure and business segments. This seems far away; however, it is a great reminder of building a solid ground for times of recovery. It is crucial for DMOs to have a detailed approach of the different markets before the pandemic,” concludes Stušek.
