Asia Pacific Overtakes Europe in Recovery: New Skift Travel Health Index
Skift Take
Key Points
- The Skift Travel Health Index rose by 4 percentage points in February 2023, indicating a positive trend in global travel recovery.
- While most travel sectors have fully recovered, the aviation sector is still improving but has reached its highest point in a year.
- The Asia Pacific region has shown significant growth, surpassing Europe in travel performance, partly due to the reopening of China.
Summary
The Skift Travel Health Index increased by 4 percentage points in February 2023, suggesting a positive trend in global travel recovery. Except for the aviation sector, all travel sectors have achieved full recovery. The Asia Pacific region has shown exceptional growth, overtaking Europe in travel performance, thanks to factors such as the reopening of China and strong pricing strategies by hotels.
Global travel recovery doesn't seem too far. The Skift Travel Health Index witnessed a month-on-month uptick of 4 percentage points (pp) in February 2023 and now stands at 93. We anticipate this year to bring recovery and growth to the travel industry.
Sector Recovery Is Underway
The latest February Highlights show that all sectors except aviation have achieved full recovery. The aviation sector grew over January 2023 and is at the highest it has been since a year.
Asia Pacific Shows Exceptional Growth
While the industry has faced multiple challenges arising from the pandemic, war, and natural calamities, travel across most regions has flourished. The Asia Pacific region which had been the "black sheep" for a long time displayed speedy recovery. Travel performance in Europe was impacted by the cancellations in Turkey due to the earthquakes. As of February 2023, travel performance in the Asia Pacific region overtook Europe. This report dives deep into growing demand in Asia Pacific.
Hotels have adopted strong pricing strategy to drive recovery. The re-opening of China also boosted sales volumes for Southeast Asian countries. Group tours from China have restarted in some countries already. However, there still lies room for growth in group pricing.
More analysis can be found in our February 2023 Highlights report and on our Skift Travel Health Index data dashboard.
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