With fears of recession and geopolitical tensions, deal activity in the global travel and tourism sector has declined by over 43 pc in the first four months of the current year, says GlobalData.

A total of 219 deals were announced in the global travel and tourism sector during January to April 2023, which is a 43 pc decline over 384 deals announced during the same period in 2022, says leading data and analytics company, GlobalData.

In a press statement, GlobalData says that fears over recessionary conditions and geopolitical tensions in various parts of the world has led to this sharp fall in the number of mergers and acquisitions that have taken place in the global travel and tourism segment.

The statement adds that North America, the traditionally dominant region in terms of travel and tourism related deal activity, recorded a massive 50.4 pc decline in deals volume during January-April 2023 compared to January-April 2022.

Other regions such as Europe, Asia-Pacific and South and Central America also experienced a decline in deal activity, with Europe declining by 48.1 pc, Asia Pacific by 28.9 pc and  South and Central America dropped by 66.7 pc during January-April 2023 compared to January-April 2022. GlobalData says that the only regions unimpacted by the drop were Middle East and Africa as the deal volume for the Middle East and Africa remained unchanged.

Travel and tourism related deal activity also remained subdued across several key markets. The US, the UK, Japan, France, India, and South Korea saw deals volume decline by 51.1 pc, 39.5 pc, 47.6 pc, 18.2 pc, 55.6 pc, and 30 pc, respectively during January to April 2023 compared to January to April 2022. Meanwhile, deal activity in China and the Netherlands showcased some improvement, says GlobalData.

“Deal activity in the travel and tourism sector suffered a significant setback across several key markets and regions as deal-makers seemed to have become cautious amid recession fears, geopolitical tensions, and uncertain economic conditions,’’ says Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData.

“All the deal types under coverage also witnessed a significant year-on-year decline in volume during January-April 2023. The numbers of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), venture financing, and private equity deals declined by 41.4 pc, 36.2 pc and 62.7 pc during January-April 2023 compared to January-April 2022, respectively,” Bose adds.