- Travel spend for flights and hotels in Europe expected to grow 6.8%
- The best time to book your European holiday flight is 48 days in advance
- Baltic States, Ireland and Poland best places to go for a cheaper holiday
- Buckingham Palace ranked the most popular attraction for Europeans, followed by the Taj Mahal and the Statue of Liberty
LONDON, United Kingdom ? Adobe today released the results of its Adobe Digital Index (ADI) 2016 Europe Travel Report, revealing the best time for Europeans to book hotels and flights, as well as the most popular, and most expensive, tourist destinations. The new report, which analysed visits to European travel sites, along with social engagements, found that online travel spend for flights and hotels in Europe over the summer is expected to grow 6.8% this year, totaling nearly ?67 billion.
When it comes to booking, there?s a ?sweet spot?
Drilling down into the costs for today?s European travelers, it?s much better to book flights earlier, especially if traveling in the EU. The research showed that the ?sweet spot? for booking European flights is 48 days in advance, and 42-52 days in advance for travel outside Europe. Prices increase dramatically if booking seven days prior to departure for flying within or outside of Europe, with flights seeing a 27% average increase in cost.
Savvy German travelers can get the best bargains, with the average flight price from Germany to the cheapest destinations (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Ireland) averaging ?71.79. In comparison, UK travelers have the highest average costs, paying ?85.97 to fly to the cheapest destinations (Slovakia, Estonia, Ireland, Poland and Latvia) from UK airports.
For those last-minute travelers looking to secure a good deal, flights to Italy and Spain have the lowest flight increases of 19% and 23%, respectively, when booked a week prior to departure. At the other end of the spectrum, Germany (55%) and the Nordics (49%) were found to have the highest last-minute premiums.
Location prioritised over price
Nonetheless, it seems that place is more significant than price, with Europeans 8.3 times more likely to book the most popular destinations than the cheaper alternatives, and the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Nordics remaining the focus for summer travel. London, Munich, Paris and Copenhagen were listed as the most popular cities within those regions.
Specifically, the top UK cities for European travelers include:[1]
London (?204.09)
Edinburgh (?164.70)
Liverpool (?153.53)
Manchester (?147.23)
Leeds (?144.23)
Top attractions make the perfect ?selfie? location
Buckingham Palace topped the list as the most popular attraction for European travelers, with over 54,000 social mentions between March and April 2016. The London landmark is followed by the Taj Mahal (25,975) and the Statue of Liberty (19,585), which also ranked as the most expensive of the top attractions for Europeans to travel to, costing ?1,029 and ?1,227 respectively. Other popular social destinations include the Louvre (18,650), Eifel Tower (15,310) and the Acropolis (11,800), plus the UK?s Tower Bridge (8,995), Big Ben (7,550) and Stonehenge (7,040).
As today?s ?selfie culture? continues, these top attractions will encourage more and more people to visit some of the biggest cities in the world, sharing those special memories on their favourite social channels along the way.
Mobile on the rise, but desktop still dominates
Data from Adobe?s Digital Index EMEA 2015 Best of the Best found that 27% of Europeans say they use a smartphone for travel planning. Tablets remain more popular for ?mobile? booking (28%), particularly when you consider how many more smartphones are sold comparatively. Unsurprisingly, desktop is still the preferred method, with almost three quarters (74%) of Europeans using them to do travel planning.
Although mobile use is on the up, there is still work to be done by brands to make big purchases feel as secure and seamless on mobile as they do on desktops, supported by the fact that 65% of European consumers say they switch devices while travel planning.
Tamara Gaffney, Principal Analyst, Adobe Digital Index comments: ?With online travel spend in Europe expected to reach ?67 billion this year, there is a huge opportunity for travel brands to make sure they are providing a consistent and relevant experience across devices, along with offering the right deal at the right time. Those brands that don?t deliver a seamless and stress-free online experience, from booking to when they return from holiday, will find themselves losing out to those who do. Ultimately, if the digital experience isn?t up-to-scratch, customers will switch to another site.?
Helpful Links
ADI Europe Travel Report 2016 ? CMO.com
Adobe Digital Index: Europe Travel Report 2016 Methodology
Based on analysis of aggregated and anonymous data, including:
· 4+ billion visits to major European (Eastern & Western) airlines with flight origin and destinations in Europe, hotel and travel sites between ?15 and ?16
· 28M+ million engagements between January 2016 ? April 2016 (mentions, likes, shares, ?official? page likes and followers.) Blogs, Facebook, G+, Reddit, Twitter, Dailymotion, Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, VK, Disqus, Foursquare, Metacafe, Wordpress, and YouTube. Social engagements is publically available based on an aggregate total
· Survey: conducted March 30th ? April 4th with 5,000 customers overall, 1,000 in each of 5 European countries (UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands.)
Adobe Digital Index: Best of the Best Methodology
The Best of the Best 2015 report refers to companies using the Adobe Marketing Cloud who rank in the Top 20% of fellow Adobe clients in their industry on various key performance metrics. It is called the Best of the Best because Adobe Marketing Cloud customers are already ahead of the masses through their investment in excellence. The report also includes a consumer survey. Between March 30th -April 4th, we talked to over 1000 consumers in each of the 5 EMEA countries (UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands) about what devices they own and how they use these devices throughout their daily activities.
The ADI consists of aggregated and anonymous data from 200 billion visits to 10,000+ U.S. websites, 100 billion visits to 3,000+ websites in Europe, and 100 billion visits to 3,000+ websites in Asia during the 2015 calendar year gathered via Adobe Analytics and Adobe Social. Country averages are based on the industries analysed.
About Adobe
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