2011 Could Be A Bumper Year For Travel

Early predictions indicate that 2011 could be a bumper year for travel, with more tourists from the US and UK planning holidays abroad, according to a recent Tripadvisor survey.

In a poll of over 3,000 US-based travellers, 69% said they planned to take international trips next year. What’s more, they also plan to spend more while away, with 36% indicating that they will splash out more on travel in 2011 than they did in this year.

British travellers are also keen to travel long haul in 2011, with 66% of the 6,000 travellers surveyed stating that they plan to take an international trip next year. Over a third plan to spend more on their holidays in 2011 compared with 2010.

The survey also indicated that 2010 had been a year of travel anxieties, altering travel trends for the coming year. Top concerns for the Brits were further strikes but many were also worried about the rises in APD, the air travel tax, as well as the high-profile collapse of travel firms. US travellers are mostly concerned about high carry-on baggage fees, hotels fees and TSA full body scanners but believe 2010 has seen several positive developments for the traveller, including more online travel deals and cheaper hotel rates.

American tourists are also reporting a rise in ‘fake-ations’, where travellers take their work on their trip. Technological advances have led to 59% of travellers in employment being more connected to work than ever before on leisure trips in 2010. Most travellers admit to checking their work e-mail on leisure trips, while 13% call the office to check in. Only 8% consider the remoteness of their destination specifically to avoid connecting with work.

Medical Tourism Untouched In Hermanus

The Medical Tourism sector worldwide is growing exponentially and set to become a $100bn sector by 2012, according to industry research. The sector is growing at a whopping 20-30% annually and is bound to continue its growth pattern in the years to come.

According to Frost & Sullivan, the medical tourism industry is currently a $78.5bn industry [end-2010], catering to over three million patients who travel around the globe for medical care. The Middle East is one of the latent source markets of patients and it is estimated that 20% of healthcare seekers worldwide are from Gulf and Arab states. Significantly, patients from UAE alone spend about $2bn in healthcare travel on an annual basis. As a result, many countries are targeting the region to woo guests and patients to their own medical tourism destinations. Germany, in particular, and Europe, in general, have been a primary medical tourism hubs for hundreds of years and continue to lead the industry today followed by Asian countries such as Thailand, India and Malaysia. Boasting of an excellent healthcare system, high quality, safe and quick treatment.

Germany is considered to be a top destination for patients from all over the world, and particularly from the Middle East, UK and the US. Germany is also an attractive destination for patients from the region, in terms of distance, costs and tourism attractions - thus reinforcing it as a premier medical tourism hub in Europe.Source: ehotelior.com

Travel Stats Are On The Up And Up

StatsSA has released the arrivals numbers for October and, once again, the numbers of tourists, both overseas and regional, have shown increases across the board.

The US market appears to be showing very strong signs of recovery and other core markets are also on the up, including Canada, Australia, China and India. European markets are also showing promising returns with healthy growth over the month in comparison with 2009. The total overseas arrivals grew by 9,7% from 189 932 to 208 276 while African arrivals grew by 13% from 438 756 to 496 071.

The top overseas markets for October 2010 were:
UK, down 2,9% from 40 829 to 39 642
USA, up 22,9% from 19 536 to 24 002
Germany, up 6,8% from 23 300 to 24 895
The Netherlands, down 5,2% from 15 612 to 14 796
France, up 9,8% from 11 834 to 12 995
Australia, up 32,9% from 7 029 to 9 339
India, up 24,6% from 5 047 to 6 291
China, up 73,7% from 3 280 to 5 697
Canada, up 25% from 4 536 to 5 668
Switzerland, up 28% from 3 983 to 5 097

Source: SA Tourism Update

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