Regional PRofile : EuropE
NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina sits in Turin ' s historic center in Northern Italy and was formerly the home to Antonio Gramsci , co-founder of Italy ' s Communist Party .
Mixed
Restrained growth , perhaps , is the best way to describe europe ’ s status .
by Brittany FarB , associatE Editor
European hotel growth has been considered to be somewhat muted , even though its economies began to regain momentum in 2014 . While Lodging Econometrics data shows that the hotel construction pipeline has experienced five consecutive quarters of modest year-over-year increases since early 2014 , the number of projects under construction remains essentially flat . Forecasts for 2015 to 2017 call for continued moderate supply growth , averaging 215 to 230 hotel openings a year .
Maybe muted growth isn ’ t the worst thing for the region as the European tourism industry faces increasing global competition from emerging destinations that are attracting growing numbers of tourists , according to Eduardo Santander , executive director of the European Travel Commission . He predicts that destinations in Asia and the Pacific will benefit from the expansion of intraregional travel and that by 2030 , Northeast Asia will replace Southern and Mediterranean Europe as the most visited sub-region .
28 HOTELS December 2015 www . hotelsmag . com