Online Travel Platforms Responsible for 41% of All Bookings for Overnight Stays in Europe
An additional number of 42-million-night bookings were recorded in France thanks to online travel platforms between 2019 and 2021, Statista reveals. Altogether with Spain and Italy, these countries represented more than a third of all bookings for this period in Europe.
According to an Oxford Economics analysis of the European tourism market, France booked the highest number of additional room nights, followed by Spain and Italy. Overall, 30 and 27 million additional nights were recorded in the two countries, respectively, due to online travel platforms’ assistance, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Furthermore, the same source reveals that an extra 23 million bookings for night stays were recorded in Germany through online travel platforms, while a total of 423.5 million overnight stays were recorded between January and November 2022, in Germany.
In detail, the highest number of overnight stays was recorded in July and August, with a total of 56.3 and 58.2 million overnight stays, respectively. In November alone, 29.8 million overnight stays were recorded in November alone.
Furthermore, online travel platforms have generated 16 million bookings for overnight stays in the United Kingdom, followed by Austria (12 million), Greece (nine million) and the Netherlands (eight million).
France, Spain and Italy accounted for 97 million bookings for night stay, representing 41 per cent of all bookings while the rest of Europe represented 54 million bookings for night stays booked through online travel platforms from 2019 to 2021.
In addition, thanks to these platforms, a total of six million overnight stays were booked in Sweden and Croatia, respectively.
As a study published by the EU Commission last year pointed out, Booking.com and Expedia have been the leading Online Travel Agents for hotel bookings in Europe. The study was carried out between 2017 and 2021 in six EU countries; Austria, Cyprus, Belgium, Poland, Sweden and Spain, and it concluded that 44 per cent of the rooms booked in accommodation spots within this time frame were booked using an online travel agency (OTAs).
“The level of the room price and room availability differentiation applied by hotels both between different OTAs and between the hotels’ own websites and OTAs appears to have decreased,” the study has revealed.
In general, online travel platforms have witnessed an increase in bookings throughout 2021, which can be linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to these platforms getting the recognition they aimed for.
As the European Office for Statistics, Eurostat has revealed, the number of nights booked via platforms like Airbnb, Tripadvisor, Expedia Group and Booking.com has gone up by 34 per cent in 2021 compared to the preceding year.
