Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: europe

  • The legendary Goodyear Blimp returns to Europe after almost a decade

    The legendary Goodyear Blimp returns to Europe after almost a decade

    The Goodyear Blimp operating in Europe will be a Zeppelin NT airship, operated by Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei GmbH of Friedrichshafen, Germany.

    This marks the latest chapter in an almost 100-year relationship between Goodyear and Zeppelin.

    The semi-rigid Zeppelin NT airship measures over 75m in length – nearly three quarters the length of a soccer field – and almost 18m in height. It is the same model airship as the three Goodyear Blimps operated by Goodyear in the United States.

    The Goodyear Blimp will fly in the Friedrichshafen, Germany area and more widely around Germany over the coming weeks and is ultimately planned to provide aerial coverage of some of the major remaining European races of the 2020 motorsports calendar.

    March 1972, first Goodyear Blimp flight in Europe

    Goodyear Blimp first arrived in Europe in March 1972, making its maiden flight in June that year in Cardington, England.

    Christened ‘Europa,’ the famous airship took to the skies over Europe over the subsequent 14 years, visiting Italy, France, Belgium, Scotland and the Netherlands and appearing at a number of prominent sporting and cultural events, including the 1985 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, the 1986 French Open at Rolland Garros and even two British royal weddings, before being retired in 1986.

    The Goodyear Blimp returned to tour Europe in subsequent years; however, now is the first time the Goodyear Blimp has flown in Europe since 2012.

  • Eurostat: How could coronavirus impact EU tourism?

    Eurostat: How could coronavirus impact EU tourism?

    To gauge the potential loss that the tourism sector will have experienced because of the Covid-19 outbreak restrictions, Eurostat examined tourism figures of the previous two years for the periods of March-June (the ‘spring shoulder season’) and July-August (the ‘peak summer season’).

    Spring and summer are the most popular seasons for Europe’s tourism

    Spring and summer are the most popular seasons for Europe’s tourism industry. In 2019, the number of nights spent by residents and non-residents in EU tourist accommodation establishments during the spring and the peak summer season each accounted for nearly one-third (32%) of the annual total for overnight stays.

    The share of nights spent in these accommodation establishments was particularly high in the month of June for the spring season, accounting for 11% of the annual total, as well as in the months of July (15%) and August (17%). A similar trend is observed for both residents and non-residents of the countries visited.

    Across the EU Member States, the share that the spring season contributes towards annual tourism accommodation stays is relatively similar, ranging from 24% in Croatia and 27% in Bulgaria to 35% in Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands. For the peak summer season, this share ranged from 23% in Malta to 58% in Croatia.

    390 million trips in spring, 270 million trips during peak summer season

    In spring 2018, EU residents made almost 390 million tourist trips, representing 34% of the annual total. During these trips, they cumulated over 1.8 billion overnight stays and spent €170 billion.

    More than two-thirds (70%) of these trips were inside the country of residence, while 22% of them were trips to other EU countries and 8% to destinations outside the EU. A similar pattern was observed for trips throughout the entire year, including during the peak summer season.

    In summer 2018, over 270 million trips were made by EU residents, accounting for 24% of the annual total. These trips amounted to over 1.9 billion overnight stays and almost €138 billion in tourism spending.

    Spain and Italy top destinations for intra-EU visitors

    The EU residents’ preferred European destinations outside their own country were: Spain, Italy and to a lesser extent France and Germany, which together accounted for 49% of intra-EU trips during spring 2018 and 45% in summer.

    From March to June, Austria dominated the top-5 of preferred intra-EU destinations, in July and August Croatia was among the most popular destinations for EU tourists.

    Luxembourgers prefer to travel abroad during spring and summer

    In 2018, residents of Luxembourg preferred to travel abroad, with almost all their tourist trips (98%) being outside their country of residence in spring and 99% of their trips being abroad during the peak summer season.

    A similar trend was observed for residents in Belgium, where a vast majority of trips during the spring and peak summer season were made outside the country of residence (79%).

    At the other end of the scale, residents in Romania and Spain preferred to travel within their country of residence in spring, making 94% and 90% domestic trips respectively.

    During summer, this was also true for the Greeks, Romanians, Portuguese and Spanish, who took the vast majority of their tourist trips inside their country of residence (95%, 91%, 90% and 89% respectively).

  • EU’s volume of retail trade fell by 10% in March 2020

    EU’s volume of retail trade fell by 10% in March 2020

    To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, EU Member States have taken a wide variety of restrictive measures. Among other limitations, non-essential retail shops have closed, affecting the retail trade volumes.

    In March 2020, EU’s volume of retail trade fell by 10% compared with February 2020. For a comparison, the retail volume increased on average by 0.3% in March 2010 to 2019, show Eurostat latest data.   

    Spotlight on the effects across the EU

    Since the COVID-19 containment measures differed between the EU Member States as to their timing and strictness, the effects on retail trade also vary.

    In March 2020, retail trade of food products (incl. beverages and tobacco) increased substantially compared with the average March growth rates of the last decade. Among EU Member States, highest increases were observed in Luxembourg (+20%), Ireland (+14%) and Belgium (+13%).

    In contrast, purchases of non-food products (excl. automotive fuel) dropped in all EU Member States, with highest decreases observed in Luxembourg (-35%), France and Spain (both -33.0%). The reduction in retail volume was particularly strong for textiles, with the sales reduced by half or more in a vast majority of EU Member States.

    Supermarket recorded increases in sales, department store decreases

    Around mid-March 2020, many countries closed non-essential stores, whilst groceries, supermarkets and pharmacies could remain open. This had a clear effect on the retail trade volumes of various distribution channels.

    Sales in supermarkets generally increased, even in countries that experienced the strongest declines in sales activities such as Bulgaria (-18% in total and 2% in supermarkets), Spain (-14% in total and 11% in supermarkets) and Portugal (-12% in total and 3% in supermarkets).

    In contrast, sales in department stores, which were mostly closed after mid-March, significantly dropped across the EU. The largest drops were registered in Belgium (-60%), Spain (-39%), Lithuania (-36%) and Germany (-30%).

  • One in three people in EU unable to face unexpected financial expenses

    One in three people in EU unable to face unexpected financial expenses

    • In the European Union (EU), almost one in three people were unable to face unexpected financial expenses (32%) in 2019.
    • These people were not able to face unexpected financial expenses such as costs for surgery, a funeral, a replacement of washing machine or a car in 2019.

    Since its peak in 2012 (40%), the ability to handle unexpected expenses has improved markedly. Due to lockdown implemented across the world in 2020 to slow down the rapid spread of the coronavirus, the ability to face unexpected financial expenses is crucial, especially in case of loss of income.  

    The highest shares of people unable to face unexpected financial expenses was reported among single person households: 40% of single persons were unable to face unexpected financial expenses, and in particular 56% of single persons with children. Higher shares were recorded for single females (43%) than for single males (36%).

    In contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in households with two adults: 25% were unable to face unexpected financial expenses; 28% of two adult households with one dependent child and 26% of those with two dependent children.

    Among all household types, the proportion of people unable to face unexpected financial expenses was lowest for two adults, of whom at least one is 65 or over (24%).

    Inability to face unexpected financial expenses highest in Croatia, lowest in Malta

    Among the EU Member States, the share of people unable to face unexpected financial expenses was highest in Croatia (52%), followed by Latvia (50%), Greece and Cyprus (both 48%), Lithuania (47%) and Romania (44%).

    Fewer than one in four people were unable to face unexpected financial expenses in Denmark (23%), Czechia and the Netherlands (both 22%), Luxembourg, Austria and Sweden (all 20%, 2018 data) as well as Malta (15%).

  • European banks are safer, but debt is riskier

    The financials of European banks have strengthened over the last five years and their credit profiles have improved, but the debt they issue has become riskier, Money Buzz! learned from the latest Moody’s Report.

    This apparent paradox is due to European Union (EU) regulation governing bank failures, which requires banks to issue more junior forms of debt to protect senior liabilities from losses.

    European banks have become less risky over the past five years. The standalone creditworthiness of large European banks has improved, with the average baseline credit assessment of the largest rated EU banks rising by half a notch over the last five years, now averaging Baa2.

    Over the same period, the risk profile of debt issued by European banks has weakened. The average credit rating of debt issued by the same group of European banks has dropped one notch to Baa1 from A3.

    This is due to new bank regulation

    The EU bank resolution regime (the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive or BRRD) establishes a process by which failing banks can be wound down in an orderly way. This in turn requires banks to issue a special layer of debt that is designed to be bailed in at a time of stress. The size of this debt layer for EU banks is determined by the Minimum Requirement for own funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL) or for the largest global banks, their Total Loss Absorbing Capacity (TLAC).

    By absorbing losses in a resolution it protects senior debt holders, institutional depositors, and ultimately taxpayers from losses.

    Banks are issuing less low-risk senior unsecured debt and more higher risk nonpreferred senior debt. Large banks need to meet their regulatory MREL and TLAC requirement for bail-in-able debt and for most, this requires the issuance of more junior debt, typically from holding companies or in non-preferred senior form. Moody’s views these debt types closer in risk terms to subordinated debt instruments and we consider that the likelihood of government support is low. As a consequence, these debt instruments almost always have a lower rating than senior debt.