FVW Destination Study 2016: Greece ranks 7th among German travel agents favorites

Spanish holiday destinations score much better than their competitors in the rest of the Mediterranean in terms of products and image, according to German travel agents, a detailed fvw survey has found.

Majorca, the Spanish mainland and the Canary Islands are the top three Mediterranean destinations ahead of Portugal, the Turkish Riviera, Italy, Greece, the Turkish Aegean, Egypt and Tunisia in the top ten ranking in the fvw Destination Study 2016, which was conducted in February and March.

But there are wide-ranging differences in the strengths and weaknesses of the destinations in ten different product categories and four image categories, according to detailed evaluations by decision-makers from more than 260 travel agencies.

The categories included ‘trust and safety’, value for money, hotel quality, beach quality, hospitality, flight connections, service quality, landscape and countryside, and ‘uniqueness’. The overall ranking was weighted in terms of the importance of the categories, with safety and price as the two most important factors.

Majorca (4.28), the Spanish mainland (4.72) and the Canary Islands (4.73) came out top ahead of Portugal (4.80) in the overall ranking (with the lowest scores representing the best marks).

Key decision-making 

The three Spanish holiday destinations also scored best for ‘trust and safety’, ahead of Portugal, Italy and Greece, showing that travel agents clearly put the Western Mediterranean ahead of the Eastern Mediterranean for this factor, which has become a key decision-making element for many German families this year.

In contrast, Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia were well ahead in the ‘value for money’ ranking.

The picture was more mixed in the product categories. The Turkish Riviera, Majorca and the Canaries scored best for hotel quality; Majorca, Egypt and the Turkish Riviera were seen as having the best beach quality; while Majorca, the Canaries and the Turkish Riviera were rated best for flight connections.

There were also significant differences in ‘soft’ factors such as service and image. Turkey and Portugal led the hospitality ranking ahead of Spain, but the three Spanish destinations topped the service quality ranking.

Egypt was the clear winner in the ‘uniqueness’ listing but Portugal was a surprise number two ahead of Greece and Italy, and also topped the ‘countryside and nature’ ranking ahead of Italy, Majorca and the Spanish mainland.

Detailed ratings

Overall, the detailed ratings show that Majorca, the Spanish mainland, the Canary Islands and Portugal are strong ‘all-rounders’ and generally score well in most categories, except for ‘value for money’.

The other destinations have a much wider range of strengths and weaknesses. Turkey scores well for value for money, hotel quality and hospitality but poorly for ‘trust and safety’ and ‘uniqueness’. Italy and Greece are seen as ‘unique’ destinations with good countryside and nature but score less well in other categories.

Egypt is best for value for money and uniqueness and Tunisia also scores well on price but the two North Africa destinations are held back by low marks in the other categories.

The full German-language study with detailed results and analysis can be purchased separately for €299 (for fvw subscribers) and €550 (for non-subscribers)

Read more here.

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