Deal activity in global travel and tourism sector has continued its declining trend in the 10th month of the year as well, with total activity down by 31.8 pc year-on-year in January to October 2023 period.

A report by market research consultancy GlobalData says that mergers and acquisitions activity in the global travel and tourism industry has taken a massive hit in the current year, falling by as much as 31.8 pc in the first 10 months of the year, as compared with the same period in the year 2022.

In a press statement, GlobalData says that a total of 621 deals were announced in the travel and tourism sector globally during January-October 2023, which was a decline of 31.8 pc compared to the announcement of 911 deals during the same period in the previous year.

The statement adds that an analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database also revealed that all the deal types under coverage witnessed a decline in volume during January-October 2023 compared to January-October 2022.

For instance, the volume of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals declined by 34.2 pc during January-October 2023 compared to January-October 2022. Meanwhile, the number of private equity deals and venture financing deals announced during January-October 2023 were down by 32.1 pc and 24 pc year-on-year (YoY), respectively.

“Ongoing wars, geo-political tensions, and uncertain economic conditions considerably impacted the deal activity in the travel and tourism sector in 2023,’’ says Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData.

The statement adds that all the regions experienced setbacks in deal activity. Deal volume for North America declined by 42.9 pc during January-October 2023 compared to January-October 2022. Similarly, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America regions also witnessed a YoY decline in the number of deals by 36.5 pc, 11.7 pc, 22.9 pc and 40 pc during January-October 2023, respectively.

Deal activity also remained subdued in most of the key global markets. For instance, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, South Korea, Australia, Spain, and the Netherlands saw a YoY decline of 43.7 pc, 33.6 pc, 46.8 pc, 18.5 pc, 19.2 pc, 28.6 pc, 57.6 pc and 27.8 pc in deals volume, respectively during January-October 2023 compared to January-October 2022.