According to data fromGlobal Data, international departures will reach 68% globally in 2022. This is higher than the level of travel before Covid-19. Not stopping there, by 2023 and 2024, the number of international departures will increase to 82% and 97%. By 2025, the number will continue to increase to 101% with about 1.5 billion international trips.
Hannah Free, travel analyst at Global Data, believes that the North American market is currently the region with the most tourism potential in the world.
"International travel from North America showed improvement in 2021 with international departures increasing 15% year-on-year. The US emerged as the world's largest outbound travel market in 2021," said Hannah Free.
The North American market is currently the region with the most tourism potential in the world.
Hannah Free predicts outbound trips from North America will reach 69% of 2019 levels. By 2024, that number will rise to 102%, before other regions fully recover.
In addition, the recovery rate of the tourism industry in Europe is on par with the Americas. In 2022, outbound tourism will reach 69% of the 2019 figure.
“As travel confidence rebuilds, the intra-European market is expected to benefit, driven by a preference for short-haul travel,” Hannah Free said.
However, the recovery of the tourism industry will be affected by many other factors. Hannah Free analyzes that the tourism industry is facing inflation, rising living costs and the war in Ukraine.
“By 2025, outbound travel is expected to reach 98% of 2019 levels. Geographically, the war has not spread beyond Ukraine’s borders. However, Russia was the world’s fifth-largest outbound tourism market in 2019, while Ukraine was the 12th. Going forward, limited outbound travel from these countries will hamper the overall recovery of European tourism,” says Hannah Free.
The Asia-Pacific region will lag behind Europe and North America. Departures from the region are expected to reach just 67% of 2019 levels in 2022 due to slower lifting of travel restrictions in the region. This is especially true for China, the region’s largest outbound tourism market.
Asia is falling behind in international tourism.
“People’s travel needs will be different now. Consumers are more likely to pursue authentic experiences, demand personalized travel services, combine business and leisure travel, and are more conscious of their overall environmental impact. There is still a long way to go to get back to normal, but the potential for a full recovery by 2025 at the latest is good reason for the travel and tourism industry to be optimistic about the future,” Hannah Free told the newspaper.Travel Pulse.
