THE WORLD OF POST COVID-19 TOURISM

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound changes in the way we travel and, consequently, in the tourism sector globally. In Italy, one of the countries that has suffered the most from the impact of the pandemic, international tourism has collapsed, leading to widespread closures of tourist facilities. Similarly, Greece has experienced a significant decrease in foreign tourism, and Hungary has seen its travel and tourism business volume drastically decrease.

In 2022, Eurostat estimates indicate that the European Union’s tourism industry has shown encouraging signs of recovery. Overall, the total number of nights spent in accommodations in 2022 was close to pre-pandemic levels, recording 2.72 billion nights compared to 2.88 billion in 2019, a decrease of 5.6%. This represents a notable increase over 2020 and 2021 levels.

 At the beginning of 2023, however, the number of overnight stays in accommodation facilities in the EU reached the highest level in the last ten years: 1.193 billion overnight stays were recorded in accommodation facilities such as hotels, holiday homes and campsites. This is an increase of 12.9% compared to the same period of the previous year and 0.9% compared to 2019.

International tourist arrivals in the world – % variations Source: UNWTO

According to Skift’s Travel Health Index, global tourism is performing better in 2023 compared to the pre-pandemic period. The Travel Health Index is a proprietary tool produced by Skift Research to monitor the performance of the travel industry using 84 travel indicators with data from 22 partners.

Accommodation

During the pandemic peak of 2020, most hotels suspended their operations due to declining demand. After the summer reopenings, which were not generalized and at a reduced pace, the second pandemic wave and the related restrictive measures worsened the situation again in the last months of 2020, forcing some hotels to cease operations, especially among the smaller and medium-sized ones. vulnerable to demand shocks.

The increase in tourist flows starting from 2021 made it possible to put a stop to the closures of accommodation facilities, but the critical issues that continued to characterize the sector also in 2022, from high energy prices to inflation to staff shortages, made it difficult to recovery process of hotel structures.

Accommodation

Presence of residents in hotel establishments in European Union countries (%)

HOTEL INDUSTRY INDICATORS - 2023

ADR – Average daily rate.
Hotel room price indicator, equal to the revenue from hotel rooms/rooms sold in a given period;

Occ – Occupancy rate.
Hotel performance indicator, equal to the number of hotel rooms sold / supply of rooms;

RevPAR – Revenue per available room.
Hotel performance indicator, equal to the revenue of the hotel room/rooms available in a given period

Per maggiori informazioni puoi consultare online il report della European Travel Commission 2023

The vacation rental sector has suffered least during the pandemic, recovering more quickly than hotels. Since January 2023, vacation rentals have been 30-40% above 2019 performance.

AirBnb is certainly one of the leading hospitality companies, in fact it holds a dominant market share of 20+% in the holiday home sector, with over 150 million users and 1 billion stays.

-Airbnb generated $2.2 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2021: 36% more than in 2019.

-Nearly 700,000 companies use Airbnb for business.

-The most popular sorting criteria from approximately 200 million searches with flexible dates in 2021:

  1. Weekend: 26%
  2. +/- 1 day: 22%
  3. +/- 7 days: 20%
  4. week: 14%
  5. +/- 3 days: 11%
  6. Month: 5%

Hospitality

The total of the hospitality market by purchasing channel

(data in billion euros)

Source Polytechnic of Milan

HIGH PRICES

2022 was a year in which inflation levels saw a sharp rise and therefore pushed prices up, together with the so-called “great forgiveness” phenomenon, which is causing staffing problems for airlines and hotels.

Global inflation rates are estimated to remain higher than normal, while fears of an impending recession and the cost-of-living crisis are already showing their effects in many European countries and the Americas.

This means that travellers’ spending capacity is decreasing and that the tendency to choose trips based on prices will probably be the significant trend in the coming years.

According to Skyscanner’s 2023 tourism trends report, around 46% of tourists intend to take the same number of holiday days in 2023 as in 2022 and around a third of them plan to travel even more.

But rising prices affect how and where money is spent; in fact, the least expensive locations are growing strongly, as is travel in the low season. For example, 25% of English tourists say that the cost of hotels influences their choice of destination.

HOW TOURISTS HAVE CHANGED

The trend of 2023, which will continue for the next few years, is that of conscious tourism, a growing portion of travelers in fact tends to make a 360-degree evaluation of their trips. The results are the choice of less crowded destinations, more sustainable means of transport or travel in low season.

Flexible working is now widespread throughout the world. In addition to increasing home-office options for employees, the word “workation” marks a trend. It describes the combination of work and travel, where companies characterized by flexible working allow their employees to travel and work simultaneously from different countries. The requests to stay for longer periods from digital nomads and smart workers continue, so much so that more and more destinations are gearing up to grant specific visas for this type of worker.

The number of young and wealthy travelers is also growing. who suffered greatly from the restrictions during the pandemic period. This tourist segment is looking for memorable experiences but with all the comforts.

Solo travelers, on the other hand, drive organized tours in non-European countries, they are mainly women aged 55 or over who are looking for experiences focused on physical and mental health and well-being.

In general, it can be said that the relationship with the travel experience has changed, for many segments of tourists, in fact, travel is no longer a simple holiday but an essential part of their life. The way these travelers invest their money, the amount of time they spend in a place, the expectations they have in relation to the overall experience and the way they communicate them also changes.