The desire to travel is strong, and that is reflected in both business demand and air travel consumption, which have accelerated significantly since the beginning of 2022.
After more than two years of restrictions on where to travel, people are booking new and different itineraries. The third annual travel report from the Mastercard Economics Institute reveals several significant travel recovery trends, including:
Today’s Traveler:
For the first time since the pandemic, business flight bookings have exceeded 2019 levels, a key milestone in the recovery. In Latin America there is a preference for domestic and short-haul flights. For example, short-haul flights out of Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Puerto Rico are increasing nearly 2.3x as fast as long-haul flights. Specifically, in August 2022, an increase in short-distance international travel reservations was observed, compared to the same month in 2019: Colombia (99%); Dominican Republic (+109%); Mexico (40%) and Puerto Rico (46%).
Main destinations:
Destinations are evolving as people start to book trips further from home. Long-haul leisure travel soared to just -7% below pre-pandemic levels at the end of April.
Travel modes:
Throughout 2021, traveling by car was the preferred mode of transportation, but now buses, cruise ships, and trains are seeing a surge in bookings. According to the latest ACI-LAC report, air traffic is also recovering its figures after the sanitary restrictions and some regions are even experiencing growth that exceeds in numbers what was registered in 2019, if flight reservations continue at the current rate, it is estimated that 1.5 billion more passengers worldwide will fly in 2022 compared to last year.
Consumer spending while traveling:
Travelers are spending again on experiences rather than things. Travel budgets have shifted towards restaurants, bars and recreational activities. Accommodation is also an important point and the type of traveler also determines the services requested: the emergence of remote work and digital nomads establishes a new type of demand in the places visited.
Source: Twitter @Aerolineas_AR
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