What the Skift Travel Health Index Signals for 2025
Skift Take
Key Points
- The Skift Travel Health Index reported a 9% increase in global travel performance in 2024.
- Asia is emerging as a major travel powerhouse, significantly contributing to global growth.
- Live events and evolving short-term rental markets are critical trends impacting future travel dynamics.
Summary
The Skift Travel Health Index highlights a 9% increase in global travel performance in 2024, driven by Asia's emergence as a key player and the impact of live events such as concerts and sporting events. Additionally, the short-term rental market is stabilizing after rapid expansion, influenced by increased competition and regulatory changes, with moderate growth expected in 2025.
2024 was a pivotal year for the global travel industry, with strong growth and evolving trends. The Skift Travel Health Index: November 2024 Highlights alone showed a 9% gain in global travel performance.
What can the performance tell us about the coming year? Here are three trends we're tracking.
1. Asia's Rise
Asia's emergence as a global travel powerhouse, fueled by pent-up demand and relaxed travel restrictions, has contributed to the overall growth of the global travel industry. All countries have shown growth compared to 2023. Although Singapore’s travel performance slowed down early in the year, it picked up in the latter part of 2024.
We expect Asia to be the driving force of global travel growth in 2025, too.
2. The Power of Live Tourism
Skift recently identified "Live Tourism" as one of our Megatrends for 2025, and 2024 provides ample evidence to support this prediction.
Throughout the year, we witnessed the impact of live events on the travel industry: Taylor Swift's Eras Tour; the Rio Carnival 2024; sporting events like the T20 Cricket World Cup in the U.S. These live events have fueled travel demand and boosted local economies.
Dubai hosted several events, such as Gulfood, the 2024 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the 2024 Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships, and the Untold Dubai Festival in February 2024. As a result, UAE’s travel performance grew 2% over February 2023. The Emirate achieved an occupancy of 91%, marking a 3% increase, and the ADR increased 9% compared to February 2023.
Japan, too, witnessed a significant surge in travel performance driven by pent-up demand and the cherry blossom season attracting international travelers. Tokyo, in particular, achieved record-high hotel performance in May 2024, due to multiple music events held at the Tokyo Dome.
The November 2024 Highlights indicate 15% year-on-year growth in Japan.
We anticipate that live events, including concerts, sporting events, and festivals, will have a big impact on global travel in 2025.
3. The Evolving Short-Term Rental Market
The short-term rental market, after a period of rapid expansion, is now stabilizing. After a decline earlier in the year, short-term rental performance rebounded in October and November, growing 4% and 11% year-on-year, respectively. However, the sector's performance continues to significantly outperform pre-pandemic levels.
Increased competition and stricter regulations in many parts of the world are shaping the future of the sector, with moderate growth expected in 2025.
Read the November 2024 Highlights for more insights and the Travel Health Index dashboard to visualize the data.
Photo Credit: unsplash.com / Drif Riadh
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