ETC Reveals Top Travel-Related Concerns Tourists Had This Year
A recent study from the European Travel Commission (ETC) has revealed that international tourists have enjoyed their travel experiences in the zone throughout the summer, as 94 per cent of respondents claimed they were satisfied or very satisfied with their trip. However, tourists have some recommendations that hosts should keep in mind for next year.
A German tourist said that accessing beaches, sights and other attractions with public transport was difficult and suggested that host countries should do something about this issue, while a British tourist expressed similar concerns for transport from the airport to the downtown, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Another British international tourist suggests attractions be less crowded and more hygienic, by providing hand sanitiser and wearing masks more often while another one complained about taxes applied to his bill.
“The stealth tax that the Greeks have implemented – depending on the star rating of your hotel, you get taxed now. […] It did affect my experience [negatively] and also affected the score of my trip,” the tourist visiting the country for Nature and Outdoors experience, said.
A French tourist visiting Europe for similar reasons noted that at his destinations there were language barriers in terms of directions and other attractions with only a few translations in English and Spanish.
In general, the main suggestions for improvement for this summer season included providing transparency and implementation of tourist taxes, facilitating finding transportation from the airport, increasing accessibility to attractions without a car, increasing crowd management and respecting COVID-19 measures at tourism spots.
Moreover, making public transportation more tourist-friendly and using more translations for tourists to navigate easier during their trip, have been some other recommendations to consider for the upcoming summer season.
The study also revealed no respondent has estimated their trip and overall experience as unsatisfying, while 13 per cent said they were affected by bureaucratic issues, which impacted their holiday experiences.
“I wanted a culture shock, discover new things, activities, food, meals, tastes, specialities of small towns […]. Yes, I can say it fulfilled my expectations in terms of gastronomy and culture change,” a French tourist said.
Over half of the German and French (63 per cent) respondents said they were very satisfied with their experience, fulfilling their expectations of trying new things and experiencing new cultures. Germans were more prone to relaxing, which is also demonstrated by the high demand for sun and beach holidays.
Italian interviewees said that their travel experience, both domestically and internationally, was ‘very satisfying’, with this result coming from accessibility to any attraction and planned activities. For 67 per cent of the Dutch respondents, the high satisfaction was from good preparation.
Furthermore, 63 per cent of Brits said they were satisfied with their travel experiences but did confirm they were slightly anxious. Americans on the other hand reported having some issues with airport delays and COVID-19 testing.
