Europeans Plan Winter Trips at 76 Percent

Seventy-six percent of Europeans plan at least one overnight trip between October and March, the European Travel Commission reports, three points above last year. [76% of Europeans plan to travel this autumn or winter — European Travel Commission sentiment report, via Ekkow]

The commission's autumn and winter sentiment survey drew 6,000 respondents across ten countries, all with at least two overnight trips in the past three years. Intentions peak at Christmas, where 23 percent plan a festive trip, and a third of December travel is visiting family. [76% of Europeans plan to travel this autumn or winter — European Travel Commission sentiment report, via Ekkow]

The shape of the trips is settled: 60 percent favor a single-destination stay, stays of four to six nights are the most common at 43 percent, and longer trips of seven to twelve nights ticked up to 32 percent from 30 last year, with typical budgets between €501 and €1,000. Leisure drives 71 percent of motivations; city breaks account for 19 percent, culture and heritage 18, and sun and beach 18 — with Southern Europe and the Mediterranean the intended destination for 53 percent. [76% of Europeans plan to travel this autumn or winter — European Travel Commission sentiment report, via Ekkow]

December bends the pattern toward people rather than places: visiting friends and family motivates 34 percent of December travel, against 10 percent in other months. City breaks do their best work earlier — they're the favored trip type across October and November at 23 percent — while culture and heritage trips peak in February and March. One caveat rides with all of it: the respondents are screened frequent travelers, so 76 percent describes Europeans who already travel, not every European. [76% of Europeans plan to travel this autumn or winter — European Travel Commission sentiment report, via Ekkow]