LONDON, December 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Despite a year of economic uncertainty Europeans are still spending on travel according to Trainline, Europe's leading independent train ticket retailer

-Italians clocked up the most trips in 2016, followed by Germans, French and Brits -  

- Italians topped travel spending at a total of €358.9 billion in 2016 -  

- Spain the travel capital of Europe, 2016 - 

- Brits least likely to take a break in their own country -  

- French least likely to travel abroad, with almost half claiming not to go abroad at all - 

A survey released today by Trainline reveals that, despite an economically challenging year, Europeans are still prioritising spending on travel, both at home and abroad. The average spent across the four countries surveyed (UK, France, Germany and Italy) was €279 billion and at the number one slot were the Italians spending a huge €6953 per head or €358.9 billion in total. German holiday-makers came in at number two spending €4959 per head or €349.5 billion in total; the Brits came third spending €3977 a head or €206.8 billion and the savviest travellers were the French, spending €3769 per head or €199 billion in total.^[**]

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161130/444328 )

As the biggest spenders it was also the Italians who clocked up the most trips away, taking an average of 5.4 holidays or short breaks a year; Germans took 3.8; the French 3.3 and the Brits took the least of all at 3.1 on average.^[***]  

In contrast to the Italians, the French were happy to stay put with almost half claiming not to have travelled abroad. This trend was not reflected amongst Brits, who were the least interested in travelling in their own country in comparison to their European cousins. One in ten (10%) Brits did not travel within Britain at all, compared less than 1% of Italians (0.8%); 6% of Germans and 3% of French. Instead, Brits preferred to join the majority of Europe in heading to Spain, with almost a third of all age groups saying they visited the country in the past year and all nationalities, with the exception of Italy, chose it as the number one destination for 2016.

A Trainline spokesperson said; "The results of our survey mirror what we see in our travel bookings. Despite economic challenges we continue to see people travelling for leisure by train both at home and cross border, a clear sign that holidays and short breaks aren't seen as a luxury any nationality is willing to give up."

Why we go away 

For a significant number of leisure travellers from the UK, France and Italy, the number one reason for going away was to 'discover somewhere new'. The exception to this was the Germans who preferred to travel so they could spend time relaxing on the beach.

It seems the French, Germans and Italians were far more interested in seeing nature and scenery than Brits, with almost half giving this as a reason for travelling, compared to just over a quarter of Brits (28%). Other popular motivating factors included food; sporting events and attending festivals.

Capitals Remain King 

For European travellers, capital cities were still the main draw with London being the most visited city in the UK and almost 85% of those travelling to England visiting the capital city ahead of Liverpool, Manchester and Cornwall. For France, Paris was the most popular tourist attraction with 60% of people visiting; for Germany it was Berlin with almost half the tourists stopping by the capital (48%) and Italy it was Rome (41%). These popular destinations are quick and easy to reach by train with those travelling by rail valuing the ease, comfort, short travel time and the ability to get straight to the destination.

Family Breaks Most Popular in France  

The most popular way for Europeans to travel on holiday was in a couple, followed closely by 'with the family'. Almost one in ten Europeans (10%) travelled alone. Despite the nation's romantic reputation; it was family, rather than couple holidays that came top in France (45% vs 35%) - the only nation where family travel was preferred to travelling a-deux.

Find out what kind of traveller you are and how you compare to others by taking the Trainline quiz at http://www.trends.trainline.eu

About Trainline 

Trainline is Europe's leading independent retailer of train tickets.   We sell tickets worldwide on behalf of 44 train companies, helping our customers make more than 100,000 smarter journeys every single day in and across 24 countries.  We are a one-stop shop for train travel, bringing together all major train companies onto one platform and providing our customers with a complete set of travel options.  We make it easy for our customers to find the best price for their journey.  

Notes to editors:  

Survey was conducted by Censuswide and surveyed a total of 8,258 Europeans (2,022 in France, 2,001 in Germany, 2,017 in Italy and 2,218 in the UK.) Survey was conducted in November 2016. Full survey data is available on request.

*Survey was conducted in Europe's four largest countries.

**Average spend per head:  

   
                       Mean
            Mean       own                                                                  
           abroad    country                                                                                                         
            incl.     incl.                Spend per            Per capita
            non-       non-     Spend per  holiday   Per capita spend, in 
        holidayers  holidayers  holiday    in own    spend,     own       
                                abroad     country   abroad     country                                                               
                                                                                             
    UK      1.233      1.890    GBP2148.40 GBP406.80 GBP2648.98 GBP768.85 
                                                               
    France  1.065      2.282    EUR2245.70 EUR603.40 EUR2391.68 EUR1376.96
                                                                                              
    Germany 1.503      2.299    EUR2403.10 EUR586.10 EUR3611.86 EUR1347.44
                                                                                              
    Italy   1.826      3.565    EUR2457.20 EUR691.90 EUR4486.85 EUR2466.62


 (table continued)

                                  Total
                       Total per  per
                       capita     capita          Total
            Total per  spend (UK                  spend
            capita     in Euros,                  among
            holiday    today's    spending        all
            spend      rate)      rank            adults
                                                                                              
    UK      GBP3417.83 EUR3977.64  3rd   EUR206.8billion/ GBP177billion
                                                                                              
    France  EUR3768.64 EUR3768.64  4th   EUR199billion
                                                                                              
    Germany EUR4959.30 EUR4959.30  2nd   EUR349.5billion
                                                                                              
    Italy   EUR6953.47 EUR6953.47  1st   EUR358.9billion

Factoring in the amount spent, and using today's mid-market exchange rate* (£1 = €1.16379, the fact that Brits go on more holidays abroad than the French bumps the UK above France in per capita holiday spending, with Italy and Germany retaining the top two spots.

Exchange rate taken from xe.com at 16:05, 18/11/2016

*** Average holidays taken:  

For the most travelled nation calculation, we need to factor in the people who did not qualify for the survey (i.e. those who said they did not travel either abroad or in their own country), in order to calculate the average for the populations as a whole. The resulting calculations for this work out as follows, with the whole population figures in green:

   
                                                                       Total mean
             % who go   Mean         Mean incl. Mean        Mean incl. holidays
             on         holidays     non-holida holidays in non-holida (whole
             holidays   abroad       yers       own country yers       pop.)      Rank
    UK       82.19%     1.5          1.233      2.3         1.890      3.123      4th
    France   76.08%     1.4          1.065      3           2.282      3.347      3rd
    Germany  88.43%     1.7          1.503      2.6         2.299      3.802      2nd
    Italy    86.95%     2.1          1.826      4.1         3.565      5.391      1st

SOURCE Trainline