Manila, Philippines The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and its knowledge partner ForwardKeys anticipate a significant increase in international flight bookings as international travel takes off.
Reservation bounce revealed at the prestigious 21 WTTCSt The global summit, which will take place this year in Manila, as the world continues to open up from the pandemic.
News of a strong recovery highlights promising prospects in summer vacation travel, with sunny and sea destinations, such as the Caribbean and Latin America, topping international inbound bookings.
According to ForwardKeys, the leading travel and analytics company, the top 20 performing country for summer are Costa Rica, Aruba, Dominican Republic and Jamaica, all of which rely heavily on international travel.
These destinations top the pack with bookings already above pre-pandemic levels.
In the past year, the industry’s gradual recovery has slowed dramatically due to the significant increase in Omicron cases. However, the future looks much brighter for 2022 with positive booking data around the world.
Julia Simpson, President and CEO of WTTC, said: “WTTC 2022 reservation data from ForwardKeys is a strong indication of the strong recovery of the global travel and tourism sector.”
“Travel to the Asia Pacific region is showing great signs of improvement as destinations are gradually reopening their borders to visitors, in line with customer demand.”
Olivier Ponty, Vice President of ForwardKeys Insights said: “It is very encouraging that Asia is finally beginning to reopen, which is driving the return of travel to Asia and within the region, both of which will clearly be instrumental in driving the global economic recovery.”
According to the data, this year’s first and second quarter numbers show triple-digit growth in domestic flight bookings around the world, compared to last year, including the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Travelers are eager to spend more on travel after restrictions are eased, with demand for premium travel classes increasing in 2022. Other trends include stronger last-minute bookings.
More evidence of a travel recovery is emerging in Europe’s arrivals, with a whopping 350% increase in international arrivals for the first quarter of 2022 compared to last year.
Asia Pacific also saw an increase in arrivals for the first quarter of this year compared to 2021, with bookings in the region increasing by 275%.
In the second quarter, we see further acceleration of the ongoing recovery with a significant rise in international bookings up 264% from the previous year.
This acceleration is particularly noticeable in Asia where travel restrictions have been removed. The Philippines, host of the WTTC World Summit, is the fastest growing single destination in Southeast Asia, with a 29% increase in the second quarter of this year compared to the first.
The summer travel forecast is driving the re-emergence of travel to the Caribbean and Latin America, which includes seven of the top 10 travel destinations.
India and Pakistan are also very popular, thanks to travel mainly for visits to family and friends.
Meanwhile in Europe, destinations such as Iceland, Greece, Portugal, Spain and France are showing a strong recovery with travel bookings just below pre-pandemic levels.
Africa and the Middle East also feature in the top 20 with Tanzania, Qatar and Egypt also reaching levels close to pre-pandemic travel levels.
The continued recovery of the travel and tourism sector in the Asia Pacific region appears set to accelerate as destinations gradually reopen throughout 2022.
About WTTC
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) represents the global private sector for travel and tourism. Members include 200 CEOs, presidents and chairmen of the world’s leading travel and tourism companies from all geographies spanning all industries. For more than 30 years, the Center for Global Travel and Tourism has been committed to increasing government and public awareness of the economic and social importance of the travel and tourism sector.
According to WTTC’s 2021 Economic Impact Report, during 2020, the year ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism and travel contributed 5.5% to global GDP and were responsible for 272 million jobs.
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