Flash EB No 291 – Survey on the attitudes of Europeans towards tourism, wave 2
Analytical report
hand, just 41% of interviewees considered recommendations from friends and family to be an important source of information when making holiday plans; in Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands, the corresponding proportions were 46%-47%. Information source: recommendations of friends and colleagues 100 80 60
in total
most important
71 70 69 69 68 68 67 65 64 64 63 62 62 62 61 61 60 59 59 59 58 58 57 55 55 53 51 50 49 47 47 46
40 20
38 38
29
41
37 37 41 40 35 31 36 33 34 35 33 32 29 33 27 26 30 30 32 31 27 21 25 23 20 22 20 23 21 23
BE
LU
NL
MT
FI
IT
CY
RO
DE
DK
EL
FR
PT
EU27
MK
AT
NO
CZ
SK
IS
EE
ES
SE
TR
BG
SI
UK
IE
PL
LV
LT
HR
HU
0
Q11a. From the following information sources, which one do you consider to be the most important when you make a decision about your travel plans? Q11b. And what is the second most important? %, Base: all respondents, by country
As to the relevance of the Internet as an information source in holiday planning, the survey showed that a majority of respondents in the Netherlands and Norway (both 58%), Iceland and Finland (both 57%), and Denmark (55%) considered the Internet to be an important source of information. In Croatia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, on the other hand, less than 3 out of 10 respondents referred to Internet-based information (26%, 27% and 28%, respectively).15 In 2010, across all countries, more than a quarter of respondents considered the Internet to be the main source of information; in 2009, however, there were three countries where this proportion remained below 25%: Hungary (19%), Romania and Bulgaria (both 23%). These three countries have seen some of the largest increases, from 2009 to 2010, in the popularity of the Internet as an information source to be used when planning a holiday (Hungary and Romania: +8 percentage points; Bulgaria: +12). Information source: Internet 100
in total
most important
80
58 58 57 57 55
40
HR
HU
PT
CZ
SK
RO
LV
MK
LT
BG
SI
TR
PL
ES
BE
CY
EE
EL
FR
AT
EU27
IE
UK
MT
DE
IT
SE
DK
FI
IS
NL
0
36 38 40 37 38 30 29 28 27 27 29 23 24 21 23 23 20 28 20 24 20 22 15 17 17 12 17 16 17 18 14 13 13
NO
20
51 50 49 46 45 44 43 42 42 40 40 39 39 39 39 37 36 36 35 33 32 32 31 30 30 28 27 26
LU
60
Q11a. From the following information sources, which one do you consider to be the most important when you make a decision about your travel plans? Q11b. And what is the second most important? %, Base: all respondents, by country
15
Note: the penetration of Internet/broadband access is, of course, closely related to the proportion of people who could use it when planning a holiday or “short trip”.
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