Domestic flights boom: Italian holidays drive domestic tourism revival

the proximity tourism It is constantly growing. This is confirmed by the research “Insights of Recovery: Ready to Take Off?” Conducted by the MasterCard Institute of Economics to identify the main travel trends – in Italy and the world – by analyzing transactions made in the MasterCard circle.

According to the survey, in the past year, almost 1 out of 5 countries reached all countries Domestic flight reservations (exactly 90%) compared to the end of 2019. While some countries (including the US, Australia, France and Italy) are outpacing pre-pandemic domestic flight bookings, others (including Canada, Thailand and New Zealand) are still partially off returning. To the previous numbers for the state of health emergency. the international travel, albeit to a lesser extent. In particular, in May 2021, global bookings for leisure trips grew 4.5 times faster than in previous months, with the number almost doubling compared to January.

“The pandemic has severely affected the travel sector, bringing spending levels to the lowest levels not recorded in more than 15 years – he explains Michael Centemiro, Country Manager, MasterCard Italy – . The global decline was $352 billion in 2020. Although much uncertainty persists, the growth of private savings, the desire to visit new places and a green light for government authorities’ travel are all elements in favor of recovery.”

in a Italy, domestic flights exceeded pre-Covid 19 levels (103%) while the recovery of international flights was delayed, stopping at 46%. In our country, it is not only leisure travel (57%) that drives the re-start of the travel sector, but also business travel is still very popular (52%). Economic uncertainty also prompts us to pay more attention to non-essential expenditures, with an average saving of 9% on consumption.

I increase all over the world road trips, as evidenced by global spending +13% on fuel. There was a strong desire to take up close trips in Italy, a trend that also highlighted the fact that 25% of vehicle rentals were used for domestic trips. Sales in different spending categories are also growing. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, there was a 75% increase in expenses for hairdressers and barbers last year. Consumption in beauty salons and leather product stores is also on the rise. Purchases from boat dealers (+30%) and bike shops (+62%) also increased.