Turkey is the preferred holiday destination of Russian holidaymakers, although when it comes to how often they visit the country, this source market still has enormous growth potential. In 2011, only 14% of the 3.4 million holiday trips undertaken by Russians to Turkey represented a fourth-time visit or more, whereas the proportion of first-time visitors was 48%. Thirty-seven percent of Russians have already been to Turkey two or three times.
These are the latest findings of the World Travel Monitor, a special survey carried out by IPK International and commissioned by ITB Berlin. The study aimed to find out how often Russians, Germans and Britons chose a particular country for their holidays. Depending on how often they visited a destination, travellers were divided into three categories: newcomers, explorers (first or second-time visitors) and regular guests (four or more visits).
Turkey is a favorite with German holidaymakers. In 2011, 1.5 million (41%) of the 3.8 million holiday trips undertaken by Germans to Turkey represented a fourth-time visit or more. Out of the 2.2 million trips undertaken by Britons to Turkey, 31% were trips by newcomers and 32% trips by regular guests respectively. Visits by “explorers” represented 38%.
The findings of ITB Berlin and IPK International also confirmed that Germans are regular visitors to the Netherlands. Sixty-three percent of Germans’ trips to their neighbors represented a fourth-time visit or more. Austria and Italy were ranked second and third among the countries that were regularly visited.
Conversely, Germany is the favorite holiday destination of Scandinavians, mostly of Norwegians. Sixty-four percent of Norwegians are fans of regular visits to Germany. Among Danes, this proportion is 55% and among the Dutch it is 54%. France is highly rated among Britons, 48% of whom take their holidays just across the Channel. Russians prefer to visit their neighbors as well, with 50% found to have taken their holidays four times or more in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic.
ITB Berlin 2013 will be taking place starting March 10. In 2012, a total of 10,644 exhibitors from 187 countries displayed their products and services to 172,000 visitors, who included 113,006 trade visitors.