Speculation from ITB's Travel Trends Report showed that while travel and spending is only on a moderate growth curb in 2013, forecasts for 2014 are optimistic. From January to August, outbound tourism grew by 2.5% compared to 2012, Overnights increased by 2%, and tourist spending rose by 1%. Russia led the source markets with a 12% increase, followed by France with a 5% increase, Sweden, the UK, Belgium and Switzerland. As expected, the South still shows signs of struggle, with Spain, Italy and Ireland low in the rankings.The future, however, seems brighter, with 3 to 4% growth in travel expected for 2014. Once again, Russian travelers are expected to top the rankings with a forecasted 10% increase. The only European market expected to decline is Italy, while Spain returns to growth. In terms of incoming travel from abroad, Russia, Asia and the USA were among the top contributing countries. However, high growth can be expected in Russian, German, UK, French, and Swiss source markets. The European Travel Commission forecasts an overall increase of 3% to travel to Europe in 2014.
