A great time to visit Europe

Thanks to favourable currency exchange rates and high quality tours, there’s never been a better time to visit Europe says the European tourism association (ETOA).

The latest European Travel Commission survey of travel trends in Europe shows the majority of destinations reporting positive growth in international arrivals and overnights for the first five months of 2015, with Germany (+5%), Spain (+4%), Italy (+4%) and the United Kingdom (+3%) all seeing solid growth in international arrivals.

Expectations for the year ahead are that European inbound tourism will keep pace with the global forecast of 3%-4%, which could result in European arrivals passing the 600 million milestone.

According to Janet Redler, currency exchange rates are helping to grow visitor numbers. “Figures show that forward reservations from North America are looking good at +7.1%, with those travelling from America to Europe getting more euros in their pockets for the dollars.”

Tom Jenkins, CEO of ETOA commented: “This is exchange rate driven. Both US and Chinese visitors are getting about 22% more Euros than this time last year; Indian tourists are enjoying 17% higher spending power, while those from the Gulf have as much as 25% more money in their pockets.”

Says Janet: “With its wealth of cultural and heritage destinations and the strength of what the Dollar can buy in Europe, there really hasn’t been a better time to visit.”