ForwardKeys says that globally, flight bookings from July 1 to August 31 were about 23 pc below those recorded in the corresponding period in 2019
Global air travel data aggregator and analyst firm ForwardKeys says that divergent trends have emerged from various parts of the world in terms of air travel during the summer.
In a press statement, ForwardKeys says that globally, flight bookings from July 1 to August 31 were about 23 pc below those recorded in the corresponding period in 2019, but were higher by 31 pc, as compared with the same period in 2022.
It adds that the United States remained the largest market with an 18 pc share of scheduled flight bookings. It was followed by Germany, the UK, Canada, France, South Korea, China, Japan, Spain and Italy.
ForwardKeys says that it has also identified six major trends in global air travel this summer. These are through an analysis of the top destinations and top origin markets compared to last year and to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
It says that in the ranking of the most visited country destinations by share of scheduled flight bookings, the US was on top of the list by a substantial margin, attracting 11 pc of all international visitors in the period and was followed by Spain, the UK, Italy, Japan, France, Mexico, Germany, Canada and Türkiye. The dominance by the US was even more in outbound travel.
Different strokes, different regions
Besides the dominance by the United States, the other key findings say that there has been a patchy post-pandemic recovery, with different regions recording different evolutions in the flight bookings.
ForwardKeys says that for most countries, travel was up on last year by a double-digit figure, but volumes have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. A closer look at the world’s traditionally largest outbound travel markets reveals the patchy nature of the recovery. The US, 17 pc more than last year, was just 1 pc down on 2019 volumes. However, other traditionally large source markets were much further off the pace, Germany was 21 pc down on pre-pandemic levels, the UK 20 pc down, France 17 pc down, South Korea 28 pc down, China, 67 pc down, Japan 53 pc down and Italy 24 pc down.
ForwardKeys says that it also found striking differences in travel volumes compared to last year, which reveal how much the Far East was still in lockdown but is now revving up, with all three Asian countries in the top ten source markets, namely South Korea, China and Japan, showing at least a triple-digit growth rate compared to 2022.
While the Chinese outbound travel market has been amongst the slowest in the world to recover, it still manages to hit 7th place thanks to its sheer size.
Beaches remain resilient
In terms of the destinations which have done best against 2019 levels, ForwardKeys says that the list is dominated by countries famous for their beaches and warm waters. The top 10 all exceeded the summer of 2019 and most showed strong growth from last year. Top of the list is Costa Rica, that grew 19 pc up on 2019 and 15 pc up on 2022. It is followed by the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Greece, Tanzania, the Bahamas and Mexico, says the report.
It adds that throughout the pandemic, leisure travel to beach destinations proved to be the most resilient, with many highly tourism dependent economies in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico working hard to keep their borders open and the tourists coming; and their efforts have certainly paid off. The same has also been true of Greece, Portugal, and the UAE.
More impact of heatwaves on screens
ForwardKeys also analyses the impact of heatwaves in its report. It says that while the unusually high temperatures and the outbreak of wildfires in Greece and Portugal made a very substantial impact on television screens, they made only a limited impact on tourism, as most holidaymakers had already booked. A spate of cancellations affected Rhodes, but flight bookings recovered to normal levels in a matter of weeks. While bookings for Northern Europe and the Nordic region were 16 pc and 17 pc behind 2019, they demonstrated better performance in the late bookings market, probably influenced by the heatwave.
Olivier Ponti
“Throughout the pandemic, US travellers were an economic lifeline for many Caribbean destinations. As other parts of the world relaxed their entry restrictions, Americans came. This summer, they have been extremely helpful to many European destinations. Now, the world’s other major tourism powerhouse, China, is starting to revive. Looking ahead to Q4 and further to 2024, I am increasingly optimistic. Right now, global flight bookings for the last three months of the year are just 4 pc behind 2019 and for the first three months of 2024 are 3 pc ahead. The world region that shows the greatest promise in Q4 is the Middle East, to where flight bookings are 37 pc ahead of 2019. It is followed by Central America, 33 pc ahead and the Caribbean, 24 pc ahead,” says Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys.
