Tourism sector enjoying 'tremendous recovery', Brussels summit hears

Pent-up demand for tourism is continuing to fuel a boom for the travel industry despite a rise in holiday prices, the inaugural Destination Europe Summit in Brussels has heard.

The summit brings together tourism industry leaders and politicians from across Europe and beyond.

Bookings for this summer season are up again as the bounce back from Covid confinement continues. And while the war in Ukraine continues to cast a shadow over the continent, its impact on the travel sector looks to be contained.

"Obviously a tremendous recovery," said Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking.com. "And we're all pleased with what has happened. We're not there yet. Inbound from Asia is not there yet, but one of the things in our industry is every day something is happening somewhere that's an issue that we got to deal with. And that's just the nature of the business."

"We are the first global destination for tourism in the world," said Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market. "But yes, we have this war, this war is definitely changing a lot of things. When Vladimir Putin decided to launch this terrible aggression against Ukraine, we had to, we had to react and we did."

Making it easier for people to get to Europe was one of the key themes at this inaugural summit. Improving connectivity, addressing labour shortages and faster implementation of the EU’s new digital visa systems to make travel more seamless were key demands from experts.

"We have to be mindful that countries across the world, they are investing a lot of money in infrastructure, they are simplifying the procedures for visas," said Jorge Casal, Senior VP for New Markets & Public Affairs at Global Blue. "Clearly the more easy, seamless the process is for someone to visit