Behavior of int'l tourists still affected by fear

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Europe

The travel behavior of international tourists is still being influenced by terror fear, yet to a lesser extent, according to an annual report published on Wednesday at the ITB Berlin, an international travel trade show.

The finding is based on the latest results from tourism consultancy IPK international's World Travel Monitor, an annual survey analyzing the outbound travel behavior in more than 60 countries and regions worldwide. The survey covers over 90 percent of the global outbound demand.

For the fifth time, the IPK International conducted a special survey on the influence of terror threats on international travel behavior in February 2018.

File photo of Eiffel Tower in France. /AFP Photo

The study revealed that, for 37 percent of international travelers, terror warnings will have an influence on their travel plans for 2018, compared to 41 percent in October 2017.

Regarding the question of what kind of influence the current situation could potentially have on travel behavior, 24 percent stated that they will still be travelling abroad, however only to destinations they perceive as "safe".

Worldwide, the number of outbound trips has increased by 6.5 percent, reaching nearly 1.2 billion international trips in 2017, according to the report.

Spain is the most-visited destination on country level, followed by the United States, Germany, France and Italy, the report said.

Security was ramped up at key tourist sites in the UK following a spate of terror attacks. /AFP Photo‍

The IPK International anticipated global outbound trips to increase by 5 percent in 2018.

Also regarding the outlook for 2018, the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) released their Report on World Tourism Economy Trends (2018) at the ITB convention, which forecasted that the growth rate of the world tourism market will continue to surpass the growth rate of the world economy.

Specifically, the total growth rate of the global tourism market is expected to reach 6.7 percent, higher than the growth rate of the global GDP at 3.6 percent and 2.9 percent, as respectively predicted by the IMF and the World Bank.

The ITB Berlin, from March 7 to 11, has so far attracted over 10,000 exhibitors from 186 countries and regions.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency