It seems that the global travel and tourism industry is finally seeing its long-awaited post-pandemic rebound as it emerges from a two-year slump, the likes of which the sector had never seen before. Although, lest we forget, its recovery remains susceptible to volatile factors like new COVID-19 variants, the global economy and Russia's war still raging in Ukraine.
According to Statista data released today by Augusta Free Press, worldwide travel and tourism revenues are forecast to reach $716.8 billion this year, reflecting an impressive 45-percent increase over the figures for 2021, which reached only $491.5 billion. The sector's revenue increases are expected to continue in 2023, with earnings growing by another 20 percent year over year to a worldwide total of $852 billion.
Prior to the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, the global tourism sector had experienced decades of almost uninterrupted growth. The world's population spent billions on hotels, cruises, vacation rentals, and package holidays every year, until the market reached a value of $776.4 billion in 2019, according to Statista data.
Then came the pandemic in 2020, bringing travel all around the world to a screeching halt, which it only began to crawl back from in 2021. But, now, there are clear signs that the tourism industry is well on its way to bouncing back to pre-COVID levels.
The UNWTO World Tourism Barometer revealed that, during the first seven months of 2022, international tourist arrivals nearly tripled over the same period in 2021, reaching 57 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
Statista's survey also showed that all travel and tourism sector segments are poised to witness substantial growth over the next year, and an anticipated full recovery to pre-COVID levels when it comes to the number of people using their products.
However, there are certain market segments are faring relatively well, while the recovery of others is noticeably lagging behind. The finer points of the report revealed how well each of the travel and tourism sector's segments is rebounding…
By Revenue:
- Hotels and resorts, which make up the largest portion of the travel and tourism industry, are projected to bring in $406.5 billion in revenue in 2023, up from $348 billion in 2022.
- It's predicted that package holidays will comprise 32 percent of the sector's overall revenue for 2023 by raking in $279.7 billion next year, which is 22 percent more than this year's projected total.
- Vacation rentals are forecast to follow, pulling in $97 billion in revenue in 2023, representing a 17 percent year-over-year increase.
- The cruise industry, which has been experiencing a speedy recovery since the CDC dropped its Conditional Sail Order, is anticipated to see revenues jump by 35 percent year over year, reaching $25.1 billion in 2023. Still, that figure still falls 2.4 billion below pre-pandemic levels, as global cruising generated $27.5 billion back in 2019.
By Users:
- It's estimated that hotels will hit 1.1 billion users worldwide, up from 969 million in 2022.
- The vacation rental industry, the second-largest segment as measured by the number of users, is set to expand by 19 percent over 2022 to nearly 840 million.
- Vacation packages segment is expected to follow with 513 million users, 84.4 million more than this year.
- While the cruise industry's user count is projected to grow by 35 percent year over year to 24.5 million in 2023, that still falls 4.6 million short of 2019 numbers.
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