This summer saw a significant increase in the number of travelers heading to Europe, and experts say this trend will continue in the autumn and winter, Breakingtravelnews.com reports.
ForwardKeys analyzes millions of daily flights and provides analytical tools to identify trends and forecasts in the travel industry. For example, ForwardKeys has published the latest report on European destinations.
“The recovery from the pandemic continues despite travel chaos and reduced capacity caused by staff shortages,” said Olivier Ponty, ForwardKeys vice president.
In July and August, the number of flights taken by foreign visitors to Turkey and Greece increased by nine and two percent, respectively, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. While the forecast for the next three months shows that air travel bookings were just 21 percent below pre-pandemic levels, air travel across Europe was down 26 percent from 2019 levels.
Bookings in Turkey and Greece increased by 20 and 5 percent respectively, while Portugal declined by 3 percent, Iceland by 7 percent, and Spain by 15 percent.
Among the most successful city destinations was Istanbul, which recorded a 2 percent increase in flights, followed by Athens (7 percent decrease), Reykjavik (8 percent decrease), Porto (8 percent decrease), and Malaga (8 percent decrease).
Experts believe European destinations could attract more tourists if airlines were better able to handle peak demand in late spring and early summer. The data shows that without disruptions, flight bookings within Europe would increase by five percent.