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World travel growth may miss forecasts as Europe stalls

November 10, 2011 | Online Travel

The global travel and tourism industry may expand slower than previously forecast this year and in 2012 as economic conditions in Europe deteriorate, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.

“Sitting in the middle of the euro zone, the picture doesn’t look good, the outbound market is suffering, governments are raising taxes and cutting back and people have less disposable income for travel and tourism,” David Scowsill, president of the council, said in a phone interview. “Most of the growth is happening in Asia.”

The $6 trillion travel and tourism industry will grow 3.2 percent this year and 3.3 percent next year, Scowsill said. That’s lower than forecasts of 4.5 percent for 2011 and 5.1 percent for 2012 made in March by the council, whose members include executives from 100 companies.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Plc, which owns, manages or operates more than 100 hotels worldwide, said Nov. 4 that the euro zone’s difficulties are affecting its clients. Similar conditions may weigh on results of InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, which reports earnings Nov. 8, and Whitbread Plc, owner of the Premier Inn budget-hotel chain, Nigel Hicks, an analyst at Liberum Capital, wrote in a note.

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