Pent-up demand drives global leisure and business flight bookings past 2019 levels: Mastercard

Global leisure and business flight bookings have surpassed pre-pandemic levels, while spending on cruise lines, buses and trains saw sharp improvements this year, according to Mastercard Economics Institute (MEI).

Specifically in the Middle East, the recovery in global travel bookings accelerated from mid-2021 after the launch of Covid vaccination campaigns and eased travel requirements in the Western hemisphere, supported by the Middle Eastern national carriers increasing scheduled flights to more destinations, MEI said in its report.Highlighting that the domestic travel choices still lead among consumers in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, it said since the onset of the pandemic, domestic travel has been the itinerary of choice for consumers in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, although the recovery has been haphazard.Domestic bookings surged and doubled pre-pandemic levels at the end of November 2020, collapsed in January 2021, jumped to more than 20% above the pre-pandemic levels in February 2021, and collapsed again in mid-2021 before staging a more steady and sustained recovery. It exceeded pre-pandemic levels from February 2022.“Like any flight, the travel recovery has faced both headwinds and tailwinds. As the ‘Great Rebalancing’ takes place around the world, this mobility is critical to a return to pre-pandemic life,” said Bricklin Dwyer, Mastercard chief economist and head of the MEI.He said the resilience of the consumer to return to ‘normal’ and make up for lost time gives it optimism that the recovery would continue directionally, even if there are bumps along the way.Stressing that easing of restrictions recalibrates the tourism map for 2022; the report said for travellers from Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, the UK has been the choice destination in the ongoing recovery, with demand exceeding that for the US.The report found that business travel in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa is returning at a much slower pace. Short-haul bookings led the recovery, but only exceeded 2019 levels in March 2022, while medium-haul and domestic bookings remain 16% and 40% below 2019 levels, respectively, as of April 2022.