Air Travel Defying Global Challenges

Despite recent terrorist attacks and on-going geo-political wrangling, the latest global overview of air travel reveals that passengers from Europe, the Americas and the Far East, are making more bookings and taking more flights, according to ForwardKeys.

Presenting its findings at the recent World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit, ForwardKeys report that:

• Canada is the new star destination in North America.
• Europe is recovering from last year’s terrorist attacks – arrivals growth is back on track.
• Political events can have a major impact on the tourism industry: the Chinese turn their backs on South Korea, and explore ASEAN countries instead.
• The BRIC countries are back: Brazil and Russia lead the growth. Thailand benefits.

Olivier Jager, CEO of ForwardKeys, observed of the findings that, “This overview reveals the resilience of the travel industry globally. People are finding alternative new destinations, and they are returning to others, previously blighted by dreadful events. However, in a world of shifting travel patterns, businesses that depend on travellers need to be able to readjust ever more quickly.”

The survey found that in the Americas, Canada and Mexico are setting the pace for long-haul arrivals. The Netherlands, China, the UK, and Germany are fueling the additional forward bookings to both countries.

The US suffered a decrease in visitors in the first quarter of this year – uncertainty due to Donald Trump’s travel ban and the stronger value of the dollar may have discouraged Middle Eastern (down 9.5%) and European travellers (down 6.5%). Forward bookings to the US have picked up, mainly due to Easter shift.

Long-haul arrivals in Western Europe are on the increase — showing its resilience in the face of last year’s terror attacks. It has taken over a year to recover, but long-haul arrivals are starting to surge again, reaching visitor numbers higher than those seen before the Paris attack in November 2015.

China’s power to make or break a destination is demonstrated by the recent trend in visitor numbers to South Korea. Beijing’s anger at the stationing of US THAAD missiles in South Korea is having a marked effect.

ForwardKeys’ data reveals international arrivals in South Korea, for stays of four to eight nights, fell 10% in the first quarter of this year due to cancellations by Chinese tour groups in March. Forward bookings for the same category are currently lagging 28%.

“In summary,” ForwardKeys’ CEO said, “Europe is recovering, the BRIC are back, Canada is a rising star and Thailand has made a very positive start to the year. However, the deployment of THAAD missiles in South Korea has torpedoed its inbound tourism industry.”