City tourism outpaces general tourism growth
The latest European Cities Marketing (ECM) Benchmarking Report, issued on 3 July, shows that number of bednights in most cities continues to grow. Over the last 5 years (2012‐2016), bednights in ECM’s Benchmarking Report’s cities (+14.2%) have been increasing at a faster rate than of the 28 EU nations (+8.8%). During 2016, while the top 2 cities showed declines in bednights, the majority still posted increases. ECM hails this resilience in city tourism, as is only natural from an organization of Tourist Boards and City Marketing Organizations with a stated mission to improve the competitiveness and performance of the leading cities of Europe. But with some of the cities posting the greatest tourism growth also being those with the greatest expressed concerns about tourism impacts on resident populations, the positive results in the report may not be universally welcomed.
The top 5 cities for 2016 looks the same as the previous year, other than Barcelona taking back its spot in the top 5 from Madrid. Remarkable is also that London was able to hold onto its spot as number one in bednights despite a negative growth rate (-3.2%), the second highest negative growth rate behind Paris (-8.2%), which also held onto its spot as number two in bednights. The biggest negative figures in the top 15 cities were Paris and Istanbul, which have both experienced terrorism or unrest. The highest growth among top 15 cities were 8.5% in Barcelona and 7.3% in Amsterdam, both cities where there is widespread unease about the levels of tourism. Authorities in Barcelona are trying to limit new accommodation in the city, while in Amsterdam too, local politicians have put a stop to new hotels in most parts of the city and recently limited the number of days people can rent out their homes on Airbnb.
Without action being taken, crowding is only set to increase. Based on the latest forecast, ECM expects a growth in total bednights of 6.4% in European Cities for 2017. This means the growth curve is expected to ascend at a faster pace, even more dynamic than the previous years.
Dieter Hardt-Stremayr, European Cities Marketing President, says: “We saw another exceptionally successful year for city tourism in Europe, despite major challenges arising. The terrorist attacks in Europe, and particularly in Paris, show the volatility, importance and resilience of tourism. Overseas markets such as China or Japan are particularly sensitive towards perceived risk which resulted in negative performance in 2016. However, since the last quarter of 2016 city tourism in Europe is back on track: visitor numbers are strongly and steadily recovering for Paris as well as for source markets which were decreasing for years, such as Russia.”
Summary statistics for the top 15 cities are tabulated on the ECM website. The report costs €990 with the full dataset of figures, and is free for members of European Cities Marketing. The report can be ordered from www.europeancitiesmarketing.com.