As the travel industry adjusts to a post-pandemic era of tourism, there are plenty of opportunities for accommodation providers to explore. Over four survey waves beginning in 2022, the European Accommodation Barometer has sought to track the economic progress of European accommodation businesses and identify the challenges and opportunities they face. In the 2023 Barometer survey, European hoteliers saw offering local experiences and attracting more families as their top opportunities. In this year's survey though, investments in style/aesthetics came out on top, selected as the biggest opportunity for accommodation business development by 69% of respondents. This was closely followed by investments in comfort and incentivizing repeat visits at 67%.
Increasing digital visibility through social media marketing, hotel website improvements, and listings with online travel agencies also received consistently high scores of over 60%. Meanwhile, traditional media promotions were only seen as an opportunity by one-quarter of European hoteliers. Adopting eco-friendly practices was also a priority for more than half of European accommodation business owners.
This and other insights regarding the European travel accommodation sector and hotelier sentiment are included in the 2024 European Accommodation Barometer, the fourth study of hoteliers conducted by Statista in collaboration with Booking.com, surveying accommodation executives and managers from across Europe. Click here to download the report.