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Global leisure and business flight bookings have surpassed pre-pandemic levels this year, while spending on cruises, buses and trains has improved significantly this year, according to a new report from the Mastercard Institute for Economic Research.
A new report from Mastercard Economics, Travel 2022: Trends and Shifts, provides key insights into the state of global travel across 37 markets in the post-vaccination and less restrictive chapters of the pandemic era.
Importantly, if flight booking trends continue at their current pace, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa is expected to see 115 million more passengers in 2022 than last year, according to an analysis by the Mastercard Institute for Economic Research.
The report leverages unique analysis of publicly available travel data2, as well as aggregated and anonymized sales activity3 across the Mastercard network, to delve into key elements of a traveler’s journey.
Key findings as of April 2022 include:
• Leisure and business flights surpassed pre-pandemic levels: For much of the pandemic, the travel recovery was largely a consumer story. At the end of April, global leisure flight bookings exceeded 2019 levels by 25%; short-haul and mid-haul leisure flight bookings increased by 25% and 27%, respectively. Global business flight bookings surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time in March, with long-haul bookings in particular seeing double-digit growth in April. Returning to the office is a big boost.
In the Middle East in particular, the recovery in international travel bookings has only accelerated from mid-2021 following the launch of Covid vaccination campaigns and the relaxation of travel requirements in the Western Hemisphere. It has also received support from the Middle Eastern national carrier, adding scheduled flights to more destinations. Business travel in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa is returning at a much slower pace. Short-haul bookings led the recovery, but only surpassed 2019 levels in March 2022, while mid-haul and domestic bookings were 16% and 40% below 2019 levels, respectively, as of April 2022.
• EMEA consumers still lead the way in domestic travel options: Since the onset of the pandemic, domestic travel has been the preferred itinerary for EMEA consumers, although the recovery has not been smooth.
Domestic bookings surged to double pre-pandemic levels in November 2020, plummeted in January 2021, jumped to more than 20% above pre-pandemic levels in February 2021, and plummeted again in mid-2021, A more stable and sustained recovery in growth followed. From February 2022, it surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
• Spending rebounds in the hard-hit transport sector: Recent spending levels suggest more comfort in group travel. Global cruise spending rose 62 percent from January to the end of April, but was still below 2019 levels. Buses returned to pre-pandemic levels, while passenger rail spending remained below 7%. Meanwhile, auto road trips remained attractive, with tolls and car rental spending rising nearly 19% and 12%, respectively.
Among consumers in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, consumption by passenger rail has outperformed the rest of the world since January 2021, with continued consumption growth in the region much higher than in the same period in 2019. In car rental, travel consumption has also been gradually recovering, more consistently surpassing 2019 levels from January 2022.
• Tourism spending returns to experience 4: For most of the year, international tourists spend more on experiences than souvenirs at destinations. Experiential spending is now 34% higher than 2019 levels; the largest increases in spending are in restaurants (72%) and amusement parks, museums, concerts and other entertainment (35%). In the UK, spending growth has more than doubled in each month of 2022 compared to 2019 levels, currently at 140% in April.
The global trend in the experience economy has also spread to Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, albeit half a year behind the global total. In South Africa, for example, experience spending has been outpacing merchandise spending by about 20 percentage points since January 2022 relative to 2019 levels, despite similar trends in merchandise and experience spending.
• Easing restrictions reshapes the travel landscape for 2022: Unsurprisingly, the ability and convenience of travel has been a driver for booking destinations, although restrictions are eased in most parts of the world in 2022, except for parts of Asia -Pacific Ocean.
As a result, the US, UK, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands are now the top destinations for tourists worldwide. For travelers from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the UK has been the top destination for the ongoing recovery, outpacing the US in demand. The UK’s “Freedom Day” lifting of restrictions in July 2021 has contributed to this trend. European destinations make up the majority of the top 10 destinations for travelers from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“As with any flight, the travel recovery faces headwinds and tailwinds. As the “great rebalancing” takes place around the world, the This kind of mobility is critical to returning to pre-pandemic life.
“The resilience of consumers to return to ‘normal’ and make up for lost time gives us optimism that the recovery will continue with direction, even with bumps along the way.” – arab trade news agency
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