Due to the uncertain slump in transportation owing to stay-at-home restrictions in the previous year, “travel” has been the most anticipated activity for everyone.
A release by MasterCard-Recovery Insights: “Ready for Take-off? Travel Trends 2021 and beyond is a report that enlists the most significant travel trends applicable to air travel and ground travel, domestically and internationally.
The review suggests spur in ground travel with growth in domestic flight bookings even though the travel recovery remains uneven.
As per the recent reports by the International Energy Agency, the global gas demand is likely to grow by 3.2% year on year in 2021, which is enough to compensate for the losses in 2020. The MasterCard insights depict the global gas spending up 13 percent compared to 2019.
Ground travel increased in Egypt and Nigeria as people start to step out of their homes, local travel increased, contributing to higher sales in salons, bikes shops, etc. Additionally, another report shows that the Global Adventure Tourism Market had a valuation of USD 657.8 million in 2019 and will probably elevate to USD 2.02 billion at a CAGR of 10.7% from 2020-2030. As people are ready for a vacation, adventure tourism, such as going into the wilderness, hiking and mountaineering, and air and water adventures, is gaining popularity.
The report talks about the factors that drive the travel sector and challenges based on the sales activity across the global MasterCard network. The study comprises saving and spending on leisure, business, local, and long-distance travel. Forecasts suggest that retail will grow between 10.5% and 13.5% to $4.44 trillion to $4.56 trillion this year.
The report points out Key trends that include:
- Global gasoline spending increased by 13 percent. A hike in the gas price impacts the economy as it results in consumer spending on transportation. Egypt and Nigeria have surpassed the spending limit at gas stations of 2019, while; the UAE and Kenya have reached pre-pandemic levels.
- Pent-up savings fuelled sales in many sectors like domestic and international. For example, bike store spending increased by 62 percent.
- Domestic air travel grew in places like South Africa by 56.7 percent. Business travel grew as compared to leisure travel globally.
- The travel bubbles like the Middle East and Africa with intra-regional travel to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have increased.
Raj Seshadri, president of data and services, MasterCard, commented: “The past year has only reinforced how important travel is—to our connection with friends, family and the broader world, to our business communities, and to our personal fulfillment.”
