Europeans and Tourism - Eurobarometer Survey Report, Autumn 2009

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The Flash Eurobarometer 281 “Survey on the attitudes of Europeans towards tourism, Autumn 2009” was conducted at the request of Directorate General Enterprise and Industry to collect EU citizens’ views on travel, details of their (planned) holidays and travel in 2009 and their expectations regarding holidays in 2010. Special emphasis was put on the financial aspect of taking a holiday, as this is becoming a prime concern for both travellers and the tourism industry in the midst of the serious economic downturn affecting all EU economies.

The Flash Eurobarometer 281 “Survey on the attitudes of Europeans towards tourism, Autumn 2009” was conducted at the request of Directorate General Enterprise and Industry to collect EU citizens’ views on travel, details of their (planned) holidays and travel in 2009 and their expectations regarding holidays in 2010.

The fieldwork was conducted from 7 to 11 September 2009. Over 24,000 randomly selected citizens aged 15 and over were interviewed in the 27 EU Member States. The sample size varied within Member States; in most countries the target sample size was 1,000 respondents, but 500 interviews were made in the smaller countries (please see the Survey Details section in the Annex for details of the actual sample sizes for the 27 countries).

Special emphasis was put on the financial aspect of taking a holiday, as this is becoming a prime concern for both travellers and the tourism industry in the midst of the serious economic downturn affecting all EU economies.

The survey was requested by the Directorate General Enterprise and Industry, coordinated by Directorate General Communication, and does not represent the point of view of the European Commission. The interpretations and opinions contained in it are solely those of the authors.

Table of Contents
Table of contents.....3
Main findings ..........5
1. Vacations in 2009  ..........6
1.1 Private travel in 2009 ......6
1.2 Geographic destinations..8
1.3 Well-known vs. emerging destinations ..11
1.4 Vacation scheduling.............................12
1.5 Last minute travel ................................14
2. Vacation spending..................................16
2.1 Cutting back on travel budgets ..............16
2.2 Ways to reduce vacation spending.........17
2.3 Cuts in leisure spending .......................22
3. Factors considered when deciding about destinations...24
3.1 Main considerations ................................................24
3.2 Ecological concerns ................................................27
4. Outlook for 2010 .......................................................29
4.1 Affording a holiday in 2010 .......................................29
4.2 Type of holiday planned for 2010.............................. .30
I. Annex tables .............................................................33