Brussels, 29/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The number of holiday trips made by EU27 residents remained stable between 2008 and 2011 but the number of business trips fell by 11%, according to the latest data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In total, citizens of the 27 member states made 1.2 billion trips both for leisure and business. After the strong increase observed between 2006 and 2008, the number of trips since then has remained almost stable, with a slight drop in 2010, followed by a slight upward trend in 2011. These figures refer to trips made by EU citizens, whether in their own country, to another member state or elsewhere in the world. Examining holiday and business trips separately, Eurostat records that business trips were more affected by the financial crisis than holiday trips. As for total trips, holiday trips made by EU27 citizens rose strongly between 2006 and 2008, and then remained nearly stable between 2008 and 2011. In contrast, trips for professional reasons, which accounted for 14% of total trips, registered a continuous decline to 11% by 2011 from the peak of 2008.
Looking in greater detail, the report highlights that: (1) in 2011, residents of the EU27 made 1.02 billion holiday and 165 million business trips; (2) in 2011, among the member states, the highest numbers of both holiday and business trips were recorded by residents of Germany (215 million holiday trips and 56 million business trips), France (204m and 21m), the United Kingdom (117m and 26m) and Spain (122m and 17m). These four member states accounted for nearly two thirds of all holiday trips and three quarters of all business trips made by EU27 residents in 2011; (3) between 2008 and 2011, the largest decreases in business trips were found in Bulgaria (-60%) and the Czech Republic (-51%), while the highest rises were in Estonia (+50%) and Sweden (+25%). All of the four member states which accounted for the largest number of business trips made by their residents recorded falls: Spain (-36%), the United Kingdom (-6%), Germany and France (both -2%); (4) during the same period, a more mixed picture was observed for the number of holiday trips made by residents. The highest growth rates between 2008 and 2011 were recorded in Estonia (+80%) and the Czech Republic (+39%), and the highest falls in Italy (-19%) and Hungary (-13%). Of the four member states that accounted for the largest number of holiday trips, the numbers rose in the United Kingdom (+4%) and Spain (+1%), remained almost stable in Germany and fell in France (-4%); (5) three quarters of the one billion holiday trips made in 2011 were spent within the country of residence, while holiday trips to other countries accounted for the other quarter. The highest shares of domestic trips in 2011 were found in Romania (93% of all holiday trips), Spain (92%) and Portugal (91%); (6) in five member states, half or more of all holiday trips in 2011 were outbound trips: Luxembourg (nearly 100% of all holiday trips), Belgium (74%), Slovenia (56%), the Netherlands (52%) and Austria (50%). (IL/transl.fl)