‘88.2% of statistics are made up on the spot’ was famously coined by comedian Vic Reeves. Well, the following 50 travel stats are 100% accurate, and essential if you’re interested in the travel sector. Whether you want to know the safest country to visit in 2019 or what makes millennials tick while on holiday, read on…
The travel industry
1. Travel and tourism is the largest commercial service sector in the world, supporting more than 300 million jobs
2. 88% of prospective holidays exclude one- and two-star rated hotels on holiday metasearch engines (TrustYou 2017)
3. 73% of UK business travellers are under the age of 45
4. The worldwide travel industry is predicted to make a gross profit of $885 billion in 2019 www.statista.com/statistics/278372/revenue-of.commercial-airlines-worldwide/
5. Booking.com is now the world’s most popular travel site after attracting 443m visitors in one month
6. TripAdvisor has 702 million reviews and opinions on its site
7. France is the most-visited country in the world, with 82.6 million visitors a year
8. More than 30 countries are debating whether to follow Hawaii’s lead and ban sunscreen that harms coral reefs
Holidaymaker behaviour
9. 78% of US holidaymakers have expressed an interest in travelling sustainably
10. Experience sells. According to Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, three in four millennials said they’d rather buy an experience than a physical good (Recode, 2018)
11. According to Pinterest, searches for ‘less travelled islands’ increased by 179% in 2018, while ‘small town travel’ searches went up by 276%
12. More than 50% of Americans in their 30s and 40s would rather travel the world than save up for a house, according to a 2018 survey
13. 15% of travellers went on holiday on their own in 2018 according to ABTA’s Holiday Habits Report 2018 – an increase of 3% compared with 2017
14. According to travel giant Booking,com, 45% of travellers have a travel bucket list in mind. Most likely to feature on it is seeing one of the Wonders of the World
15. More than 1 in 3 travellers are interested in using digital assistants to research and book holidays (Google/Phocuswright)
16. People aged between 25-34 took the most holidays, on average, in 2018 with 4.1 per person (ABTA 2018)
Destinations
17. Zambia is the safest country in the world to visit in 2019
18. Tulum, Mexico, is ranked as the number-one trending destination among millennials worldwide
19. According to Expedia, the most photographed place in the world is Central Park, New York, followed by London’s Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower in Paris
20. London expects to have more than 40 million visitors a year by 2025
21. Sri Lanka has been named the best place to travel to in 2019 by Blue Planet
22. Tourists trust Egypt again – it’s the fastest-growing destination year on year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization
23. Nijmegan in the Netherlands was awarded European Green Capital of 2018
24. Among Brits, the top holiday destination is Spain followed by France and Italy (Finder, 2018)
25. According to Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index, Bangkok was the most visited city in 2018, with 20.05 million international visitors. It was closely followed by London with 19.83m and Paris with 17.44m visitors
Flights/Airlines
26. A Boeing 787 can fly 10,000 miles on one tank of fuel
27. It would take 47 hours to fly around the whole world if a commercial plane did not need to refuel
28. American Airlines has the largest fleet of planes with a total of 1,494 https://financesonline.com/world-airline-fleets-top-10-aviation-armadas-with-most-airplanes/
29. The quickest time to date for a flight from Perth, Australia, to London, UK, was a Qantas jet; the journey time was 16 hours and 20 minutes
30. Business-class flights account for just 12% of passengers but 75% of airline turnover
31. A Boeing 747 has a lifespan of 30 years, in which time it will fly 52,500 miles
32. Singapore Airlines has been voted the world’s best airline, with Virgin Atlantic coming top in the UK
Hotels
33. The Royal Penthouse Suite at Hotel President Wilson is the world’s most expensive hotel suite. Located in Geneva, Switzerland, it costs £61,000 a night
34. Hotel rates per night are going to increase by 1%–3% in Europe over the course of 2019 (BCD 2018)
35. Wyndham Worldwide, Choice Hotels and Marriot International are the largest hotel chains in the world, with more than 20,000 hotels combined (WorldAtlas2019)
Bookings
36. January is the busiest month for travel operators, with many Brits taking advantage of the sales
37. 40% of travel bookings are now made using a mobile device
38. 89% of last-minute bookings are made on a mobile device (Criteo 2018)
39. Between 2009 to 2017, US hotel-booking revenue has grown by nearly 60%, from US$116 billion to US$185 billion
40. Two-thirds of Gen Z travellers are undecided where to go when they start planning a trip
Cruises
41. Nearly 30 million people take a cruise each year
42. In 2020, Carnival Cruise Lines will be launching the first cruise ship with a rollercoaster onboard – the ship will be called Mardi Gras
43. MSC Cruises will install its own voice-assistant technology – called Zoe – on board new ships in 2019
Consumer spending
44. By 2021, Chinese tourists will spend £333 billion on travel each year
45. The average UK family of four spends up to £5,000 on holidays a year
46. 10,000 UK parents have said they are willing to pay a £60 fine to take their children out of school for a holiday
Social media
47. 40% of millennials regard ‘Instagrammability’ as a key factor when choosing a holiday destination
48. 72% of people post photos on social media while on holiday
49. Travel gets more mentions on social media than Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber combined
50. 55% of people like social media pages related to trips they are planning (Webpage,FX, 2018)