As governments start loosening travel restrictions, we’ve started to see an increase in travel demand around the world. We created a Demand Recovery Index to provide insights into the state of popular tourist destinations and help our local partners prepare for a tourism upswing.
Our index covers both popular countries for tourism and countries that have shown notable trends in recovery. Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States are all covered.
You can find the demand recovery status per country, trending cities for countries that show positive signs of recovery, and some booking trends for tours, activities, and attractions around the world.
Demand recovery status per country
The index splits recovery into 2 phases: lockdown and domestic travel. The lockdown phase focuses on the domestic trends where we’ve seen the first signs of recovery. The domestic travel phase includes international travel data from neighboring countries.
Overall, we’ve seen quick tourism recovery in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the United States during the lockdown phase. Additionally we saw a slight increase in travel demand for France, Australia, and Spain. Meanwhile, travel demand in the United Kingdom and Italy have not seen an increase.
While many countries showed signs of recovery during lockdown, New Zealand has shown significant signs of recovery during the domestic travel phase.
Trending cities for countries that show positive signs of recovery
When searching for their next holiday, travelers in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the United States are looking to travel to smaller markets. They are willing to explore destinations that are easily accessible by ground transportation or short haul flights. Smaller cities benefit from smaller crowds, making it easier to adhere to social distancing measures. Additionally, outdoor activities offer travelers a chance to escape crowds.
With summer around the corner, coastal cities like Cuxhaven in Germany, Volendam in the Netherlands, Myrtle Beach in the United States have become popular destinations. For travelers who can’t access the coast, outdoor destinations like Zermatt in Switzerland have become popular. In the southern hemisphere, travelers in New Zealand are planning to visit the mountainous regions near Queenstown.
Booking trends for tours, activities, and experiences
With the rise of domestic travel, tours offered in local languages are gaining popularity, with bookings increasing by 40 percent in June compared to the beginning of January. Many travelers also take instability into account, looking for activities that offer flexible cancellation. Bookings for activities that are not cancelable have decreased by 60 percent in June compared to the start of the year.
Key Takeaways
Based on the above insights, here are some useful ways to potentially help increase you bookings:
- Recommending tours and activities that take place outdoors.
- Recommending tours and activities in your country’s local language.
- Sharing flexible cancellation for tours & activities.
- Taking advantage of domestic travel to smaller cities.
If possible, these steps will allow you to take advantage of current demand trends.