As world lifts curbs on travel, strong momentum seen in aviation recovery

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the increasing momentum towards re-opening of borders and relaxation of travel restrictions, as Covid-19 moves into the endemic phase.

An IATA survey of travel restrictions for the world's top 50 air travel markets (comprising 88 per cent of international demand in 2019 as measured by revenue passenger kilometers) revealed the growing access available to vaccinated travellers: 25 markets representing 38 per cent of 2019 international demand are open to vaccinated travellers without quarantine measures or testing requirements - up from 18 markets (28 per cent of 2019 international demand) in mid-February.

38 markets representing 65 per cent of 2019 international demand are open to vaccinated travellers with no quarantine requirements - up from 28 markets (50 per cent of 2019 international demand) in mid-February. Repeated surveys of passengers by IATA during the pandemic has shown that testing and especially quarantine are major barriers to travel. The regional variations in the degree of openness among the markets are stark.

Travel in Asia remains heavily compromised by Covid restrictions. While North American and European international traffic rebounded to -42 per cent of their 2019 peaks last year, traffic in Asia Pacific remained at -88 per cent. Even in this region, however, there has been some progress, with India and Malaysia among the countries recently announcing relaxation of restrictions.

The easing of measures reflects the growing consensus that travel restrictions such as border closures and quarantine do little to control the spread of Covid-19. A recent report by OXERA and Edge Health, looking at the spread of the Omicron variant in Europe, concluded that travel restrictions may only delay the peak of a wave by a few days.

"The world is largely open for travel. As population immunity grows, more governments are managing Covid-19 through surveillance, as they do for other endemic viruses. That is great news for a growing number of destinations that will receive a much-needed economic boost from the upcoming Easter and Northern Summer travel seasons. Asia is the outlier. Hopefully, recent relaxations including Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, and the Philippines are paving the way towards restoring the freedom to travel that is more broadly enjoyed in other parts of the world," said Willie Walsh, IATA's Director General.

RateGain Travel Technologies, a global SaaS provider for travel and hospitality, analysis suggest, except Hong Kong, China and Russia, all other major countries that contribute to tourism are showing higher bookings as compared to January 2022 when the world had briefly dealt with the Omicron Wave. It is expected that the news of Hong Kong opening its border for nine countries will positively impact recovery in the key Asian destination for business. RateGain's earlier analysis had suggested that the Omicron wave only impacted travel for two weeks after which bookings started recovering – suggesting that with each subsequent wave the impact on travel continues to reduce and the time for which travel bookings decline is becoming much shorter.

Europe's travel resurgence

RateGain analyzed bookings over the last three months as well as compared bookings for the month of February to the previous year to understand if the industry is on track for recovery and a healthy 2022. When compared to 2021, European countries of France, Italy, Spain, and Japan have shown the biggest improvement with almost 5X higher bookings as compared to the same period last year. They are followed by Germany, UK that are witnessing 110-150 per cent increase in bookings.

India, Mexico, US, UAE showing double digit growth

India, Mexico, US, UAE are showing double digit growth as well as compared to last year. It should be noted that all four countries had already recovered to 70-80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in February of 2021 because of which the YoY growth seems lower.