[size=75:1amo3hn4]Sofia echo 9 March 2010

Prospects for 2010 tourism season 'upbeat' - Eurobarometer

About eighty per cent of Europeans are planning to go ahead in 2010 with holiday travel plans, according to a new Eurobarometer survey.

Only 20 per cent of more than 30 000 randomly selected citizens were almost certain that they will not travel in 2010, which is "
significantly below"
the proportion of non-travellers in 2009, which was 33 per cent, Eurobarometer said on March 9 2010.

EU citizens increasingly prefer to spend their holidays in traditional tourist destinations (57 per cent), while 28 per cent would rather go "
off the beaten track"
to emerging destinations.

Tourism is one of Europe's most important service industries, accounting for five per cent of Europe's GDP and six per cent of employment.

European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said that the 2010 survey results were "
encouraging"
for the tourism industry.

"
We need to work further on developing the tourism industry, which ranks third in terms of GDP and employment in Europe.

"
The Lisbon Treaty now gives us the opportunity to tackle this sector from a European perspective. Nearly 50 per cent of EU residents have already decided that they will go on holiday in 2010 and their perceptions about being able to finance their holidays have also slightly improved,"
Tajani said.

The most important findings include a continuing trend towards discovering Europe and their own countries: again in 2010, 50 per cent of Europeans intend to spend their holidays in their own country or in another EU country.

According to the survey, there is more confidence in being able to finance their holidays. About half of EU citizens who are planning to take a holiday in 2010 felt they will have sufficient funds - 46 per cent, five percentage points higher than in 2009.

However, as in 2009, 10 per cent said they have serious financial problems that could impact their holiday plans.

Travelling remains popular: about two-thirds (65 per cent) of EU citizens travelled for leisure in 2009, and travelling is most popular among residents of Norway (84 per cent) followed by Finland (83 per cent), The Netherlands (79 per cent) and Ireland (78 per cent).

"
Local attractiveness"
is cited as the major factor (32 per cent) when choosing holiday destinations, followed by "
cultural heritage"
(25 per cent) and "
entertainment possibilities"
(16 per cent).

Seeking "
rest and recreation"
(37 per cent) is the main motivation for EU citizens to travel, followed by "
sun and beach"
(19 per cent) and "
visiting friends and relatives"
(17 per cent).

Arranging holidays themselves: the number of EU citizens who organise their main holiday themselves further increased in 2009 to 58 per cent;
Candidate Countries Croatia (83 per cent) and Turkey (82 per cent) lead in this respect.

The most popular choices: Spain (10.4 per cent) was already the most popular destination in 2008 and 2009 and dominates also the current plans made for 2010. It is closely followed by France (9.9 per cent) and Italy (9.2 per cent).

However, 17 per cent of EU residents planning to go on holiday in 2010 have not yet decided on the destination.

This was the third time the survey was done.

The European Commission says that intends to conduct this kind of survey once a year in order to closely follow short and medium term travel and tourism trends of European citizens.

These surveys will allow tourism stakeholders of the countries surveyed to react to changing trends in tourism demand, and so will constitute an important instrument for tourism policy, the European Commission said.