WTTC: Europe's travel and tourism industry will recover strongly in 2022

 WTTC: Europe's travel and tourism industry will recover strongly in 2022

 - The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) recently reported that bookings for intra-European trips over the upcoming Easter holiday have increased by more than 250%, while bookings for summer travel to... this time increased by 80% compared to 2021.

According to information from ForwardKeys (a partner of WTTC), the number of intra-European airline ticket bookings for Easter and summer increased more than last year, bringing a good sign for European travel and tourism businesses. Europe.

Julia Simpson, WTTC President and CEO, said: “The latest booking data shows that Europeans are actively traveling again. Reservations for Easter and summer are on the rise.

The problem here is that governments have issued travel restrictions. The World Health Organization says that border closures make no sense when Omicron has appeared in society. According to the latest scientific evidence, although more contagious, Omicron is less serious. So we are calling on governments to ease all travel restrictions and allow fully vaccinated travelers to move freely.

According to booking data, intra-European travel during Easter and summer 2022 is forecast to be lower than before the pandemic, at only 38% and 45% respectively. However, as countries continue to ease travel restrictions, the recovery is progressing very positively and will most likely return to close to 2019 levels in the near term.

In addition, in the first quarter of 2022, tourism in the Europe region saw a 275% increase in bookings, and international arrivals to European destinations increased by more than 280% compared to the same period in 2021.

As travel restrictions continue to be lifted and consumer confidence continues to grow, travel demand will increase, and bookings will also increase in the coming months.

In 2019, the global travel and tourism industry contributed nearly $9.2 trillion and created 10.6% of total jobs (334 million). According to WTTC research, by 2020, the pandemic has brought international travel to a near freeze, 62 million jobs lost and the industry's contribution to global GDP down by $4.5 trillion. These damages have affected the livelihoods of millions of people, and severely affected the global economy.