{"id":3104,"date":"2020-03-05T19:30:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T18:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.forwardkeys.com\/flight-bookings-to-europe-dive-as-coronavirus-reaches-italy\/"},"modified":"2024-12-04T12:32:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T11:32:08","slug":"flight-bookings-to-europe-dive-as-coronavirus-reaches-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forwardkeys.com\/es\/flight-bookings-to-europe-dive-as-coronavirus-reaches-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"Flight bookings to Europe dive as Coronavirus reaches Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cancellations exceed new air bookings to Italy; Europe down by 79.0%<\/h3>\n

A report by\u00a0ForwardKeys<\/strong><\/a>, the travel analytics company, commissioned by\u00a0European Cities Marketing (ECM)<\/strong>, reveals that the outbreak of the COVID19 virus, in Italy, in the final week of February (Feb 23rd<\/sup>\u00a0\u2013 29th<\/sup>), has triggered a wave of cancellations to Italy and a collapse in new bookings to Europe from Intercontinental source markets.<\/p>\n

From the moment China imposed restrictions on outbound travel, in the week of January 20-\u00a0 February 22; and the outbreak of COVID19 cases in northern Italy began, bookings to Europe from Intercontinental source markets decreased by 23.7%.<\/p>\n

However, in the final week of February, the situation worsened as the number of new bookings to Italy was suddenly outpaced by the cancellation of existing bookings. The impact on travel was not confined to Italy; simultaneously, the overall number of new flight bookings to Europe fell by 79.0%.<\/p>\n

The first confirmed COVID19 case occurred on January 31, when two Chinese tourists tested positive in Rome. This led to an immediate dip in bookings to Italy.\u00a0 Almost immediately after a cluster of cases were detected in Lombardy on 21st<\/sup>\u00a0February \u2013 and Italy\u2019s first deaths were reported, did we see a sharp decline in traveller movements. Since then, the number of cases in Italy has grown exponentially to over a thousand; and flight bookings to Italy have further decreased. Bookings to Italy, in the final week of February, fell by 138.7%. The number of cancellations now exceed the number of new bookings!<\/p>\n

\"20200303-Inbound-Europe-COVID19-v0.4-1-min-2048x1405\"<\/p>\n

An analysis of our data from Europe\u2019s various source markets shows a double-digit decline in bookings in the final week of February from every major region of the world. Bookings from the Asia Pacific region fell by 114.2% (cancellations exceeding new bookings), followed by the Americas which fell by 68.1% and Africa & the Middle East, which fell by 49.9%.<\/p>\n

Breaking the global origin markets down into sub regions, in order of least to worst affected, shows bookings from North Africa decreased by 30.4%, from Sub Saharan Africa, by 33.3%, from Central America by 63.6%, from North America by 63.7%, from Middle East by 66.1%, from the Caribbean by 66.5%, from Oceania by 81.5%, from South Asia by 85.9%, from South America by 87.1%, from South East Asia by 133.2% and from North East Asia by 133.5%.<\/p>\n

\"20200303-Inbound-Europe-COVID19-v0.4-2-min-2048x1302\"Whilst<\/p>\n

the analysis of bookings reveals people\u2019s travel plans, the analysis of arrivals reveals how many have actually travelled. Looking back over the first two months of the year, from 1st<\/sup>\u00a0January to 29th<\/sup>\u00a0February, visitor arrivals in Europe have shown a two-phased decline as a consequence of the COVID19 crisis.<\/p>\n

Initially, Intercontinental visits to Europe tracked collectively 1.3% above 2019 levels from the start of the year to 28th of January. The first phase of decline in Europe began on 29th<\/sup>\u00a0January, nine days after the beginning of the crisis in China, when European destinations started to suffer, and arrivals decreased by 17.6% from 29th<\/sup>\u00a0of January to 23rd<\/sup>\u00a0February.<\/p>\n

Phase 2 began with a sharp slump in visits which happened in tandem with the increase of COVID19 cases in northern Italy. In Phase 2, arrivals in Europe collapsed by 25.9% between the 24th<\/sup>\u00a0and 29th<\/sup>\u00a0of February alone, leaving the year to date results 10.5% below the same period last year.<\/p>\n

Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys said: \u201cThe arrival of the COVID19 virus in Italy marks a new phase in the travel crisis in Europe. The drop-off in bookings to Italy is even worse than we have observed in the past for some of the most disruptive events such as terror attacks. The booking behaviour, appears to be disproportionate, as parts of Europe other than Italy are experiencing very substantial declines in visitor interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petra Stu\u0161ek, President, European Cities Marketing, concluded: \u201cWhen it comes to tourism, we should bear in mind that the more people travel within Europe, the more stable the travel economy will be. It is important to stay calm, not to overreact and work to keep ourselves and our communities safe, but also functioning, until the recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Olivier Ponti<\/strong>
\nVice-President Insights<\/p>\n

olivier.ponti@forwardkeys.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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