Spate of cancellations amid trade dispute is coming to an end, figures suggest
Tourism revenues are expected to rise sharply as the negative effect of Donald Trump’s trade war wanes and travellers return from the US to places such as Spain, Ireland and Greece.
An analysis by Moody’s analysis released on Friday shows tourists paid far less in taxes last year than they did in 2016, when a weak euro boosted European tourism, with Germany seeing a nine% slump in the value of the currency.
In July this year, Spain saw some tourists return – they spent a record €1.1bn (£0.90bn) in the country. France reported a 1.2% increase in tourists in July while arrivals to Greece increased 6.2%.
Spain is expected to report an 8.2% rise in tourist revenues this year, Ireland will see a 4.7% gain, while Greece is predicting an almost 13% increase.
Tourism is a major industry in the European Union, with 128 million international tourists expected to visit this year, according to the tourist body EUobserver. Other figures show spending per tourist is running at over €3,000 this year – a 12% increase on 2017.