The number of airline passengers will increase by 10.4 percent this year and will thus reach the highest result in history – estimate the authors of the Allianz Research report. As they add, “inflation and economic slowdown have not discouraged consumers from spending money on tourism”, which is why ticket prices will remain high.
“Travel has become the one thing consumers continue to spend money on. Unlike previous recessions, inflation and the economic slowdown have not discouraged consumers from spending on tourism. In fact, demand for hotel and transportation services continues to grow in all regions, even though revenue per available room (RevPAR) and airline ticket prices remain high (…), contributing to moderate service price inflation on both sides of the Atlantic,” Allianz Research wrote in a report.
As forecast in the publication the number of airline passengers around the world will increase by 10.4% this year. Every year and will reach the highest level in history. The presented calculations show that the greatest increase – by 17.2 percent. y/y – the number of passengers will increase in the Asia-Pacific region and in North America – by 9.2%. y/y.
Growing interest in travel
The analysis noted that while global GDP in 2023 it increased by 3.2%, 1.3 billion people went abroad in the same period, which is an increase of 33%. y/y.
It was added that according to the World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), in the first quarter of 2024, international tourism reached the level of over 285 million travelers, which means that it was 20 percent higher than in the first quarter of 2023 and corresponded to 97%. state before the pandemic.
“This suggests that travel is increasingly considered a core expense in household budgets, and consumers are willing to pay a premium for the experience, undeterred even by recent security incidents” – said the authors of the report.
“Trends such as the increase in the popularity of working from home – which was intended to reduce business travel – and the flight-shame movement also did not reduce demand for travel, although domestic traffic returned to pre-pandemic levels faster than international travel” – they added.
Airline tickets will remain expensive
Analysts predict that airline ticket prices will remain high. In their opinion, there are several factors that put pressure on airline capacity, the most significant of which is the shortage of aircraft that began during the pandemic.
The report noted that with demand still high and capacity constraints, the 2024 holiday season will be more expensive than usual.
“The Northern Hemisphere is experiencing strong consumer demand, which will benefit all tourism-related industries, from hotels and restaurants to transport, recreation and consumer services,” it said.
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