This page is a placeholder and is tobe replaced in the PDF documentfor the cover provided by ETC. EUROPEAN TOURISM in 2015: Quarterly Report (Q3/2015) A quarterly insights report produced for the Market Intelligence Groupof theEuropean Travel Commission (ETC) Brussels, October 2015ETC Market Intelligence Report Copyright © 2015 European Travel Commission European Tourism in 2015: Trends & Prospects (Q3/2015) All rights reserved. The contents of this report may be quoted, provided the sourceis given accurately and clearly. Distribution or reproduction in full is permitted forown or internal use only. While we encourage distribution via publicly accessible The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication donot imply the expression of any opinions whatsoever on the part of the Executive Data sources: This report includes data from the TourMIS database /http://www.tourmis.info, STR Global, IATA, AEA and UNWTO. Economic analysis and forecasts are provided by Tourism Economics and Published and printed by the European Travel CommissionRue du Marché aux Herbes, 61, 1000 Brussels, BelgiumWebsite:www.etc-corporate.orgEmail:info@visiteurope.com This report was compiled and edited by:Tourism Economics (an Oxford Economics Company) Cover: Cityscape of Lucerne with Chapel Bridge, SwitzerlandCopyright belongs to Shutterstock/ Mariia Golovianko (Image ID: 284909354) In memoriam Mr Tom Ylkänen Foreword Robust summer demand provedresilient International touristarrivals by destination DemandforEuropeandestinationscontinued to surge steadily half-way throughtheyear and has proved astoundingresiliencetocurrentsocio-economicagitations. Data reported so far by Europeandestinations featured a very positive picture Growth was buoyed by large intra-regionaldestinationsand the on-going economicrecoveryof the Eurozone.Iceland andRomania continued to enjoy healthy growthfollowinga27%and18%increaserespectively.Slovenia(13%)and Serbia(13%) also posted sound results. Standout Inbound travel from China by destination 2014, share of each destination’s Chinese foreign arrivals Northward destinations are facing difficultiesto pick up in terms of arrivals and overnights.Finland and Estonia dragged the weak start International air passenger traffic continuesto thrive at a steady rate, with RPK up 6.7%compared to same period last year. Positiveperformanceis fuelled by a strong dollarspurringdemand from the Americas and Source: Tourism Economics Key intra-European markets continue to boost tourism demand within Growth in arrivals was also supported by established source markets in Europe whichhaveevidenced to contribute significantly to the positive performance of manyEuropean destinations. Unsurprisingly, more UK citizens are benefitting from thestrength of the pound against the euro to travel to Eurozone destinations as several International arrivals from Russia did not perform differently from Q1 or Q2 with growthfalling by an estimate 18% (non-ETC area incl.) so far thisyear. The on-goinggeopolitical disruptions, the steep drop in oil prices, international sanctions, shrinkingwagesand the slowdown of the economy has paved the way for Russianholidaymakersopting for less expensive destinations. Romania, Montenegro and Europeandestinations reported healthy growth in terms of Chinese internationalarrivals based on latest data available. Estimated figures indicate that arrivals fromChina to Europe increased by 30% so far in 2015. It is expected that the recent marketturmoilin China should have no bearing on tourism demand to Europe as itsexpandingmiddle class continue to travel internationally.The country’s sagging European tourism demand in the path to growth as prospects remain At midyear, European tourism continues to grow rapidly, and has proven resilient toeconomic woes, geopolitical tensions or threats of terrorism. Far more importantly, theregion was able to offset the sag in arrivals from Russia and is expected to grow by5% in 2015. Following the success of European tourism during the summer periodefforts should persist to foster tourism and encourage more tourists from long-hauland intra-regional markets. Success shall be achieved by capitalising on Europe’s 2015 Tourism Performance Summary So far in 2015 all but a few countries continue to welcome increasing numbers of bothforeign visitors and foreign visitor nights according to data to August. Some of thosedestinations which have yet to see growth in foreign visits could be described as Relative to the US dollar the euro is weaker now than it has been at any other point inthepast decade.This has contributed to price attractiveness for Eurozone Iceland remains one of the top performing destinations so far this year with foreignvisits growing by 26.8% based on the first eight months of 2015 compared to the same Visits to Romania also grew steadily by 17.8% in 2015 to August. In the first fewmonths of this year Romania was o