As Europe finally welcomes travelers from the United States back to its shores, the European Travel Commission (ETC)—the association uniting the national tourism organizations of 32 European destinations—has launched a new consumer campaign to encourage transatlantic travel once again.
The European Union officially added the U.S. to its green list on June 18 and recommended that all E.U. states lift restrictions on American non-essential travelers. This, coupled with the go-ahead from the U.S. for its fully vaccinated citizens to travel internationally, has triggered the kick-start of the promotional campaign, which ETC has been actively planning over the past months to build on the strong, pent-up demand for European travel. In fact, according to ETC´s latest research, travel to Europe from the U.S. is forecast to grow by 41.4 percent annually on average from 2020 to 2025, giving hope to many European destinations following a drop of nearly 82 percent in U.S. arrivals in 2020 (6.55 million) versus 2019 (36.47 million).
The integrated digital campaign “Europe Invites the Curious” is co-funded by the European Union and is designed to invite Americans to rediscover the European outdoors, the myriad of cultural hubs, the history and creative cities of Europe via programmatic display, online video and social media promotion over the next three months. The campaign follows up on the trade reassurance campaign that ETC rolled out this past spring to restore confidence in travel to the continent.
See the video here:
Speaking following the launch of the campaign, Alison Metcalfe, chair – ETC U.S. Chapter, said: “After a challenging 16 months, Europe is reopening and welcoming U.S. travelers back to experience the region’s rich and diverse array of unique and authentic travel experiences. We know there is significant pent-up demand for international travel and Europe tops the list for many U.S. travelers. Following the roll out of a reassurance campaign over the last few months designed to communicate the health and safety protocols European destinations have put in place to keep travelers safe, updates on the vaccination rollout and next steps for the return of international travel, ETC is delighted to once again be back showcasing Europe to U.S. prospective travelers with the launch of the new ‘Europe Invites the Curious’ campaign to inspire and restart travel from the US to Europe.”
Americans planning to travel to Europe are also advised to check reopen.europa.eu for information on the current measures at their destination.
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