Half of the Biggest Tourism Economies Close to Full Travel Recovery

Eleven countries (half of our 22-country coverage) performed at 95 percent or over in May, according to the latest Skift Travel Health Index update. This means that their travel performance is only 5 percentage points off May 2019 levels,.

The 100 Club — those countries that score more than 100 percent of 2019 travel levels — has been growing and now consists of seven countries, including Turkey, the UAE, Mexico, Italy, France, Brazil, and India all performing better in May 2022 than they did in May 2019. The U.S., scoring 99.8 percent, is not far behind.

During May 2022, the index broke the 80 percent barrier for the first time, with the global average Index score standing at 81, as compared to a score of 100 in May 2019. Since February, the Index has reached new highs every month, and this is the first time that the Index has gone above the 80-mark since February 2020. 

Prices Remain High

There are no signs that the high prices charged by hotels and airlines are abating. During the month of May, published hotel rates were above 2019 levels for almost all countries, with Hong Kong and Thailand the only exceptions. This is surprising for Thailand, as bookings made in May were up almost 100 percent compared to May 2019. 

About half of all tracked countries are now seeing bookings above 2019 levels too, which is a vast improvement from the situation in January, when not a single country was seeing 2019 booking levels.  

More analysis can be found in our May 2022 Highlights report and on our Skift Travel Health Index data dashboard.

Skift Travel Health Index: May 2022 Highlights

Purchase this report, or subscribe to Skift Research to read our latest analysis on the performance of the travel industry.

Read More