Page 18 - ELG1911 Nov Issue 467

El•Gazette 467.qxp_El•Gazette 467 23/10/2019 13:10 Page 18

TRENDS: DATA .

English language travel –

a maturing market?

Patrik Pavlacic, Chief Researcher at market analysts Bonard, reveals the
2018 student statistics

fter its peak in 2014, confirmation The maturity of the sector is also Malaysia, which attract a significant
comes that the global English demonstrated by the performance of the top proportion of intra-regional English language
language travel sector has entered 20 source countries. They produce 84 per cent student mobility from within Asia. At Bonard,
Amaturity. From a destination of all student weeks globally, yet only eight our ongoing investigation into the
perspective, the times of double-digit year-on- markets within this club grew year-on-year. Philippines’ market has counted over 100
year increases are long gone and the We saw China and Japan, the leading language centres catering to international
international arena effectively constitutes a source markets in Asia, decline in 2018: students.
zero-sum game – destinations are growing at China dropped by 7 per cent, the first time
each other’s expense. decrease since 2012. However, the picture is
As an independent market research also skewed by the emergence of the The British Council
specialist, at Bonard we align global data Philippines as an increasingly sought-after
collection and reporting for eight traditional ELT destination within the region. reckons that English is
English Language destinations: Australia, In addition, while traditionally strong
Canada, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, South Western European markets continue to already spoken at a
Africa, the UK and the USA. shrink, there are considerable opportunities in
We estimate that in 2018 there were Latin America. Colombia, Brazil and Mexico useful level by some
approximately 1.38 million international all performed well last year, experiencing a 1.75 billion people, a
students pursuing English language courses year-on-year increase in student weeks of 11
abroad for a total of 10,496,000 student per cent, 3 per cent and 14 per cent quarter of the world’s
weeks, the traditional measurement of length respectively.
of stay. The figures mark a 0.5 per cent What are the driving forces behind these population.
decrease in terms of student numbers and a developments? There are a number of macro
decrease of 3.2 per cent in terms of student trends.
weeks compared to 2017. First, the growth in the number of English Demographics and purpose of learning are
Gradual declines in the average length of learners around the world is slowing. The also shifting. Destinations such as the UK,
stay in destinations such as the UK, the USA, British Council reckons that English is already Ireland and Malta have experienced increases
Australia and Canada have contributed to the spoken at a useful level by some 1.75 billion in the numbers of juniors, who now account
fall in the number of overall student weeks. people, a quarter of the world’s population. for more than half of all English language
The only exceptions to this trend in 2018 Second, domestic education systems are students from abroad. This is coupled with
were Ireland and South Africa, which, despite developing and the local supply of English the fact that General English has been on the
decreases in student numbers, posted growth language providers as well as online learning decrease. There is greater demand for more
in student weeks. have been on the increase, offering learners advanced/experience-based courses, such as
According to the work we have done with the opportunity to study English locally and English for Academic Purposes, English
English UK, Britain experienced mixed thus meeting demand, especially for those at courses leading to better career opportunities,
development in 2018 – even though student lower levels of proficiency. English-plus-Activity courses and so forth.
numbers rose by 1.6 per cent, student weeks Next comes the rise of non-traditional Finally, we are seeing consolidation.
dipped by 0.9 per cent. destinations such as the Philippines and Providers and agents are increasingly

1,378,345
10,496,109

Source: BONARD, 2019 Source: BONARD, 2019
18 November 2019