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- Booking data shows cultural ties kept travel resilient through COVID-19
Inbound flight bookings to five European markets show that travel from countries with historic cultural and diasporic ties was more resilient than leisure travel during the toughest COVID-19 restrictions
While air traffic worldwide has seen dramatic falls due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, data compiled by Amadeus shows that flight bookings to five leading European nations from countries with close historic, cultural and diasporic ties have been more resilient.
Amadeus assessed inbound flight bookings for France, Germany, Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom from March to September 2020, the months when international travel was hardest hit by pandemic-related lockdowns. The data highlights, for example, that flight bookings from the US to the UK dropped by 131% during this period, while bookings from Pakistan – which is a similar distance to the UK as the eastern states of the US – fell by less than half this figure (-65%).
Flight bookings into France fell by more than 100% from the US (-142%), Germany (-109%), Algeria (-108%) and the UK (-107%). Meanwhile, flight bookings from Guadaloupe (-78%), Martinique (-80%), Tunisia (-86%) – countries that have large diaspora populations and are either overseas departments, regions or have close ties with France – saw less of a decline.
Transatlantic travel into the UK, France, Germany and Spain from the US were particularly affected. The biggest decline of key market inbound travel was from Australia to the UK, where booking traffic dropped by 165%. This was likely due to strict lockdowns and border closures.
“While non-essential holiday traffic in EMEA was hit hard during March to September 2020, our data suggests that travel for family and personal reasons remained slightly less affected,” said Liz Emmott, General Manager, UK, Amadeus. “The number of flight searches for each region was also down, but not as much as booking, so the desire and curiosity to travel is clearly still there for when the travel industry opens up again.”
Regional Snapshot
United Kingdom
The UK was also impacted by the lack of American visitors this year. Tough lockdowns and travel restrictions in Germany, India, China and Australia also probably played a key role in the large drops in bookings.
The smallest drop in bookings into the UK during March-September 2020 were from Pakistan (-65%), Bulgaria (-74%), and Turkey (-82%).
“Leisure travel into the UK dropped off this year but the need for travel between friends and family appears to have been more resilient. Pakistan, which has a significant diaspora in the UK, saw its booking numbers to the UK remain the most resilient of any nation,” added Liz Emmott. “Travel has been difficult for many people in the UK’s key leisure target markets and that has been reflected in the drop in bookings.”
France
France has seen a large reduction in bookings, even from two of its nearest markets, the UK and Germany. Somewhat bucking the overall trend, Algeria, a country with a close connection with France, has seen a larger decline in bookings (-108%) than neighbouring Tunisia (-86%).
Germany
Bookings from four key visitor nations – UK, France, Spain and China – saw severe restrictions imposed on international travel and were down more than 100% during March - September 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. Similar to other markets, countries that have a large diaspora in Germany, such as Turkey (-86%) or Bulgaria (-81%) have seen less of a decline.
Russia
Bookers from Russia’s neighbour Ukraine have dropped far less than visitors from further afield. Bookings from Germany have been hit particularly hard, falling -149%.
Spain
The opening up of travel in Europe over the summer did little to stop the fall in bookings from key European feeder nations. Spain is the UK’s favourite holiday destination, but bookings from the UK fell by 118% between March and September. As with other Northern European markets, travelers from the US dropped off significantly between March-September 2020, falling -140%. The smallest rates of booking decline of all countries were from Pakistan (-32%), Senegal (66%) and the Dominican Republic (-86%).
Data source: Amadeus Marketing Information Data Tapes (MIDT)
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