The results from the Ipsos-Europe Assistance Barometer are up. The study analyzes the intentions of European travelers for the coming summer.
After years of consecutive drops, 54% of Europeans have trips planned during their summer vacations, according to this report, given to a sample of 3,505 Europeans (French, German, British, Italian, Spanish, Belgian, and Austrian).
However, this tendency depends on important contrasts according to the country analyzed. The intention of traveling is especially favorable in the countries of northern Europe, with a clear growth among Germans (56% of them will go on vacation, four points more) and Austrians (68%, eleven points more).
A situation in the south of the old continent, on the other hand, shows a continual drop in its intentions to go on summer vacation since a few years.
So, a lower number (58%) of French will go on vacation this summer, a few points less than a year ago and eight points less than in 2012, if this rate continues at a similar level as that of the European average.
However, France is situated on top of the remaining of the Mediterranean countries, especially Spain where the rate has been established at the lowest level (42%) and Italy which continues to recover (52%) from the spectacular fall observed between 2011 and 2013 (with a drop of 26 points in two years, from 78% to 52%).
A matter of budget
At the global level, the average budget Europeans designate for their summer vacations has stayed relatively stable and around 2,313 euros, some 71 euros more than a year ago with a growing difference between the countries most affected by the crisis and those that resisted it the best.
In 2014, the difference between the average vacation budget of the northern countries (the UK, Germany, Belgium, and Austria) and those of the south (Spain, Italy, and France) has reached a number of around 700 euros; while before the crisis of 2008, the difference was around 370 euros.
In the same way, inside the European zone, the difference between the highest average budgets and the lowest has increased almost 5% in six years. Like last year, the British head off the list of the largest vacation budget (2,932 euros, some 2,741 pounds); followed by the Belgians (2,577 euros), the Austrians (2,542 euros), and the Germans (2,397 euros).
In the Mediterranean countries, the French hold the largest budget with 2,227 euros on average, although this is below the European average. Lastly, 22% of Europeans state that they will dispense with a vacation budget completely, a rate that reaches almost 40% in Spain and Italy (with 39% and 38% respectively, six points more compared with last year).