Global Tourism Investment Is Down by Over $100 Billion from Pre-Pandemic Level

Capital A Berhad, parent of Malaysian budget airline AirAsia, expects to see the carrier’s operations returning to pre-pandemic levels by December, Capital A CEO Tony Fernandes told Reuters on Monday.

International travelers spent $18 billion on travel to, and within the U.S. in July., down by $1.5 billion from its pre-pandemic level, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office’s latest data. Spending on strictly goods and services like recreation, lodging and food totaled $9.7 billion in July 2023.

With the pandemic now over, what’s the future of tourism? What does the decline of full-time office employees mean for tourism and business travel? Why hasn’t U.S. solved its visa delay mess? We’ll discuss these topics with the executives of NYC Tourism+Conventions, U.S. Travel Association, Visit Britain, Intrepid Travel and others on-stage at the Skift Global Forum in New York on September 26-28. 

Destination DC will spend nearly $20 million on marketing in an upcoming advertising campaign as the city deals with a slow travel recovery.

In just the past few days, there have been two key moves that ease restrictions for travel from China to the U.S. Tourism officials have been clear that the lifting of these restrictions is critical to a full recovery –though key hurdles remain. On Thursday, China lifted pandemic-era group tour restrictions for the U.S. and other key markets. Before the lift, Chinese travel agencies were banned from selling outbound group or package travel to the U.S.

Royal Caribbean Group received a strong boost in its booking volume thanks to relaxed Covid protocols, the cruise company’s executives said on an earnings call Thursday. 

Ireland’s overseas inbound tourism level for the year is set to hit 75 percent of 2019 levels, CEO of Tourism Ireland Niall Gibbons told The Sunday Times (London).

Multiple state tourism agencies ended their growing participation on the short-form video sharing platform TikTok to comply with their state executive orders. As they exit, they plan to move the resources allocated for TikTok into their other social media channels.

As the 2022 FIFA World Cup draws to a close, Qatar plans to capitalize on the global event’s publicity, visitation numbers and supporting infrastructure as a an opportunity to put the country on the map as a competitive tourist destination moving forward. 

The U.S. travel industry will soon have an official voice at the highest levels of federal policymaking under the newly-created assistant secretary of travel and tourism. 

The absence of Chinese tourists as countries around the world opened their borders again remains the most impactful development this year. China’s commitment to zero Covid cases dashed the normalcy return hopes of the global tourism industry.

Both the Middle East and Europe are on track to reach their pre-pandemic levels in 2023 , according to the UN World Tourism Organization. Last year saw a stronger than expected recovery for the global tourism economy.