Although tourist trips have not yet reached the previous volume, travelers are already confidently going abroad. According to the latest report of the World Tourism Organization under the United Nations, two countries stood out, where tourists will go en masse for shopping in 2022. These are Turkey and Greece.
According to the organization, tourism around the world is showing a strong recovery. Thus, in the first quarter of 2022, there were three times more trips to tourist destinations than in the same period last year. It was stated that Europe set the pace in the recovery of the sector. Between January and March of this year, international tourism increased by 182% compared to the previous year. It was noted that in the first quarter of 2021, 41 million trips were made internationally, and in the first 3 months of 2022, this number reached an estimated 117 million people.
High turnover growth
The impact of recovery of tourism had a positive effect on the tourist retail trade. Swiss travel retailer Dufry, which operates in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Americas, said that in the first quarter of 2022, Europe, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean countries were the best performers. , including Turkey and Greece. Dufry Group CEO Julian Diaz noted that pandemic mitigation measures have also boosted the travel retail sector.
“Recovery continued in April and May. Compared to January-February and January-April, Dufry’s turnover has more than doubled,” he explained. On the other hand, compared to the first quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of last year, Dufry Group’s turnover increased by 144.5%.
Forecasts and expectations
The tourism sector, which has not yet reached the pre-2019 level, is expected to continue its recovery during 2022, while the growth rate of the global economy and the situation in Ukraine are factors in the decline in the rate of tourism development. While revenues from international tourism reached $602 billion, Europe and the Middle East became the two leading regions in this sense. Some industry representatives said that a return to 2019 figures could happen in 2023, while another part indicated that the recovery could not happen before 2024.
According to the UNWTO report, in the first 3 months of this year, Europe received almost 4 times more tourists than in the first quarter of 2021, and the demand mostly came from countries in the same region. In the U.S., there were more than twice as many trips as last year during the same period. However, flights to both continents lag behind the indicators of 2019.
Although travel to the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific increased by 132%, 96%, and 64% respectively in the first quarter of 2022, their numbers did not reach the level of three years ago. According to a report by the European Travel Commission (ETC) and Eurail, between May and August, Europe will see a limited improvement in tourist interest from overseas countries such as Brazil, Canada, the US, and China, although it increased compared to last year. Rising fares are expected to reduce the appetite for long-haul flights.
The volume of foreign tourist flow exceeded the domestic one
The member of the board of directors and CEO of the Turkish company DESA Burak Celet said in a conversation with publications that the need for suitcases, without which travel is unthinkable, along with tourism, is also accelerating: “From our point of view, there is a recovery, and we observe that people have a serious demand for travel. Flight customs are very important to us. In particular, domestic flights to China, the USA, and Europe reached the level of 2019 or even surpassed it. The figure for 2019 has not yet been recorded on foreign flights. Judging by Samsonite Turkey (a luggage manufacturer), we have seen a serious increase in demand since last June. This year we quickly entered the tourist season. What surprised us is that this year the level of foreign purchases increased to 52% and exceeded the level of domestic purchases. I think when we go on summer vacation, we will see mobility within the country as well. From the point of view of shopping in Turkey, there is a serious opportunity for foreign tourists. They may also need a suitcase to get their purchases from here to their country. In general, the consumer buys suitcases very sensibly and prudently.”