Flight bookings for leisure and business travel top 2019 levels
That’s according to the Mastercard Economics Institute’s third annual travel report, Travel 2022: Trends & Transitions, published yesterday.
After analyzing 37 global markets, the report found that cross-border travel reached pre-pandemic levels as of March.This is an important milestone.
David Mann, chief economist for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at Mastercard Economics Institute, said the data showed a “great recovery” was underway.“This is pure evidence of how strong the pent-up demand really was.”
flight is back
Global flight bookings for leisure travel were 25% above pre-pandemic levels in April, according to the report.There were more cases in April than in the same period.
Long leisure flights weren’t too late either.
After starting the year at -75% of pre-pandemic levels, an “unprecedented surge” in international bookings caused those flights to drop his 2019 levels in less than three months, according to the report.slightly lower.”
According to the Mastercard Economics Institute’s 2022 Travel Report, global spending on cruises, buses and passenger rail surged earlier this year, as did airlines, while tourist car rentals surged in March 2019.surpassed the level of the year.
3 Alex | E+ | Getty Images
Business flyers, who have lagged behind leisure travelers throughout the pandemic, are also back in the skies.
At the end of March, business flight bookings surpassed 2019 levels for the first time since the start of the pandemic, marking an important milestone for an airline that relies on corporate ‘frequent flyer’ passengers, according to the report..
Business travel is resuming quickly, with business flight bookings only about half of their pre-pandemic levels earlier this year, according to the report.
delay in asia
Although the return to air travel in Asia has been slow, a global upward trajectory has materialized.
Flights to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia increased this year among Asia Pacific travelers, but most of the major international destinations were outside the region.
“Based on our data, 50% of the top destinations visited by Asia Pacific travelers in the first quarter of 2022 were outside the region, with the United States in first place,” said Mann.said.
“Despite a slower recovery compared to the West, Asia-Pacific travelers are showing a strong desire to return to liberalized travel.”
According to the Mastercard Economics Institute, if flight bookings continue at their current pace, it is estimated that 1.5 billion more passengers will fly globally this year than in 2021, more than a third of them coming from Europe.increase.
Will this last?
Strong demand for air travel and rising global employment trends are just some of the reasons why the global travel industry has “more reasons to be optimistic than pessimistic,” according to the report.
While people have paid off their debts at a “record pace” over the past two years, the report said, wealthy consumers “who are more likely to travel for leisure” have increased their pandemic-related savings and It has benefited from rising asset prices.
However, rising inflation, market volatility, geopolitical challenges in Europe and Asia, and rising Covid-19 infection rates threaten to derail a robust travel recovery in 2022.
Income is expected to rise in line with inflation, according to the report, but this will occur faster in developing countries.
“While we expect income growth to outpace consumer price inflation in Germany and the United States by mid-2023, this is unlikely to materialize in Mexico and South Africa until 2024 and 2025, respectively,” the report said.the book says.
Among the many risks that could impede the travel recovery, Covid ranks as the biggest variable.
David Mann
Mastercard Economics Institute Chief Economist
Airfares are also on the rise, with average ticket prices up about 18% from January to April this year, according to the report.
From April 2019 to April 2022, airfares in Singapore increased by 27%.However, US air fares remained largely unchanged over the same period, according to the report.
But for those desperate to travel again, Mann said higher prices weren’t an immediate concern.Inflation and rising costs will become a problem “first after releasing some of the built-up demand pressure.”
Consumers will eventually react to higher travel prices, he said, “but that’s more talk, we’ll argue, by the end of the year and by 2023.”
And only if prices continue to rise, he said.
Uncertainty Surrounding Covid
A bigger issue may be the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic that continues to cast a shadow over the travel industry.
“Among the many risks that could derail the travel recovery, we see COVID-19 as the biggest variable,” Mann said.
“Although treatments are improving and vaccines are being successfully deployed in many markets, severe or contagious variants requiring border closures have continued the non-linear and episodic recovery patterns of the past two years.
may return to,” he said.
Hurray for the last summer?
It remains to be seen whether travel demand will remain strong throughout the year, or whether travelers will roar last summer before tightening their purse strings.
The report notes that people have traditionally spent less on travel in response to rising energy and food costs.
“However, given the enormous levels of demand pent-up in the post-pandemic world, this time may be different,” the report said..
