EU Tourism Is Within Striking Distance of Pre-Pandemic Peak

Europe’s travel and tourism industry has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels of visitors, a fact that’s hardly surprising amid a summer when scores of Americans are vacationing on the continent.

New data from the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 2023 Economic Impact Research (EIR) shows that the industry is expected to reach 98 percent of its 2019 peak in 2023.

In addition, some 687,000 jobs are expected to be created by Europe’s travel industry this year, which would amount to more than 22.4 million people employed by travel and tourism. That figure represents a recovery of nearly 90 percent of the jobs lost amid the global COVID-19 pandemic and would mean that one in nine workers across the EU are employed by the travel and tourism industry.

According to the global tourism body’s annual research, Europe’s travel industry has now recovered 3.1 million of the 3.6 million jobs lost during the pandemic.

Last year, the industry experienced steady recovery as well. In particular, the GDP contribution from EU travel and tourism increased by 40.5 percent to reach more than €1.37 billion (about $1.5 billion U.S.). That’s about 8.7 percent of the EU economy, which is not far short of the 2019 high, when the industry accounted for 9.6 percent of the European economy, the WTTC said.

Last year also saw the return of international travelers heading to the EU with spending from overseas visitors growing 81% year-over-year, to reach almost €385 billion (about $418 billion U.S.) Meanwhile, domestic travel in Europe fully recovered last year and went on to exceed its pre-pandemic high of €809 billion (about $879 billion U.S.), to reach €814 billion (about $884 billion U.S.).

“The travel and tourism sector in the EU is recovering strongly with high visitor demand,” Julia Simpson, WTTC president and CEO, said in a statement. “The number of jobs created by travel and tourism stands at 21.8 million, but by the end of this year it will reach nearly 22.5 million jobs, just 2 percent behind 2019 numbers.”

Europe is the Hot Ticket of Summer 2023
As TravelPulse reported in May, European travel among Americans this summer is expected to increase 55 percent over the summer of 2022, with London as the top destination in the region.

The demand for European travel experiences increased by 600 percent from 2021 to 2022 and this year’s new increase of 55 percent brings home the trend of post-pandemic bucket-list trips. About 80 percent of Americans are heading to Europe for about seven days, while 11 percent are planning eight-day trips.

The WTTC also revealed in its new forecast that Europe’s travel industry is likely to grow its GDP contribution to almost €1.9 billion (about $2.1 billion U.S.) by 2033. If that takes place, the industry will make up more than 10 percent of the EU economy. Employment figures may also reach as high as more than 26.3 million people across the region, with one in eight EU residents working in a travel or tourism-related job.

“Travel and tourism is a key economic growth sector and driver of jobs in the EU due to the importance of the sector in so many countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain, and France,” said Simpson.