Mastercard demonstrates, with figures to back it up, that the upturn in tourism is here to stay, particularly for business travel. Based on the aggregation of transactions processed by Mastercard as well as IATA passenger data and public macroeconomic indicators, the Mastercard Economics Institute survey covers 37 markets worldwide. This report "Travel 2022: Trends and Transitions" shows that thehe number of business flight bookings has begun to exceed pre-pandemic levels from March onwards, reaching a peak of +18% on 28 April. This is a first after many difficult months, and good news for airlines, especially as long-haul traffic doubled in April. In its analysis, Mastercard also shows that this increase in business flight bookings is significantly greater in countries where conditions for teleworking and Internet access are less good, than in countries where "work from home" is more developed.
At a time when border entry restrictions are being lifted one after the other in a large number of countries, this upturn is affecting all travel sectors worldwideThis is particularly true of bus routes, which have returned to the same level of activity as before the crisis. Based on trends in the toll (+9%) and hire (+12%) budgets, the study also shows a clear improvement in car use, thanks in particular to domestic customers, while rail spending remains 7 % below its 2019 level. Similarly, cruise passengers have not yet made up all the ground lost, but on a positive note, they have seen spending rise by 62 points between January and the end of April.
Bars and restaurants: a rise in "pleasure" spending, according to Mastercard
Another finding of this report, and one that will come as no surprise after all these months of confinement and restrictions on movement: travellers want to treat themselves. More than the traditional souvenirs or new clothes to bring back from holiday, tourists - and no doubt, among them, business travellers on the fringes of their professional meetings - are prioritising experiences. Mastercard has noted 72% of additional spending in bars and nightclubs, followed by theme parks, museums, concerts and other leisure activities (35 %). As for restaurants, while they accounted for 22% of a trip's budget in 2019, this had risen to 24% by April 2022.
This is particularly true in Singapore, where tourist spending increased by 60 %, and even more so in the UK, with growth of 140 % for the month of April compared to 2019. But France is not to be outdone, with spending on experiences there up 61% versus 2019, compared with +18% for souvenir purchases. "Consumers' desire to return to normality and their desire to see the world return to normal. the desire to make up for lost time makes us optimistic about lasting resilience, despite the obstacles we facecommented Bricklin Dwyer, Mastercard Chief Economist and head of the Mastercard Economics Institute. At a time when a great rebalancing is taking place all over the world, mobility is one of the aspects that we would most like to get back to our former lives. "
While some Asian countries are still relatively closed to tourism, the most popular destinations worldwide in 2022 according to Mastercard are the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands. In this context, France is the ninth most popular destination in the worldIt is also the second most popular destination for travellers from the EMEA region. " Europe is at the heart of the tourism business, and trends are encouraging for France" said Brice van de Walle, Managing Director of Mastercard France. According to the payment solutions specialist, bookings for both tourism and business travel have returned to their previous levels. their pre-pandemic level in the 1st quarter of 2022.
If the upward trend in bookings continues at the current rate, the analysis by the Mastercard Economics Institute predicts that 1.5 billion more air passengers by 2022 than in 2021, with 550 million additional passengers travelling to the Europe region.
