Europeans Boosting Budget for Travel in 2019

Europeans are boosting their budget for travel aiming to spend 3 percent more on their holidays this year, according to the Europ Assistance Annual Holiday Barometer released this week.

More specifically, travelers from eurozone countries are planning to spend an average of 2,019 euros for travel purposes according to the barometer conducted by Ipsos, which looks at the summer holiday plans and travel preferences of respondents in 12 countries, including the US, UK, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, and Brazil.

“This year we’ve seen that overall the situation globally is stable, the summer holiday remains an important part of life in Europe, the US and Brazil.,” said Antoine Parisi, CEO of Europ Assistance.

The travel budget in France increased by 10 percent, by 8 percent in Spain, and by 4 percent in Germany. Budgets for travel in the US decreased by almost 10 percent from 2018 to 2,373 dollars. In the meantime, holidaymakers from Brazil, Belgium, and the UK are set to spend 3-5 percent less.

The survey also found that more than half (63 percent) of Europeans and 68 percent of Americans indicated that they would be going on holiday this summer.

Budget followed by climate and the possibility of taking part in leisure and cultural activities were leading factors affecting decisions for travel among respondents, with concerns for terrorism declining.

Europeans overall said they were much less fearful of travel-related risks in general with worries about terrorism at 42 percent, down six points from 2018.

In terms of activities, American travelers (28 percent) and Brazilians (36 percent) said they were more interested in atypical activities like staying at a local’s home compared to 27 percent of Europeans.