With 2022 seeing travel restrictions lifted, connectivity re-established and consumer confidence regained, demand for international travel is on the rise once more, marking a departure from the domestic travel trend that dominated in recent years. As we look towards summer, it is Europe leading the table for both outbound and inbound international travel. This is thanks to a combination of an active intraregional travel market and the reactivation of transatlantic travel – primarily from US travellers, whose interest in Europe remains high despite the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and an increase in air fares, Forward Keys reports. Top European destinations

In the Americas, Central America and the Caribbean are the recovery pacemakers thanks to the perennial lure of the local beach destinations.
Meanwhile, a significant proportion of the travellers driving Africa’s recovery can be categorised as ‘visiting friends and relatives’ (VFR), with long-haul leisure travel to certain Sub-Saharan destinations also contributing to the continent’s reactivation.
In the Middle East, travel recovery is being led by major transit hubs, where traffic is returning as intercontinental travel rebounds.

Finally, the easing of restrictions in key markets has kick-started Asia Pacific’s reactivation. As witnessed in other regions, VFR travel has been the first segment to begin its recovery. In the leisure tourism arena, Asia Pacific must follow the example of its counterparts, rebuilding connectivity, standardising health protocols and regaining
consumer confidence to facilitate and encourage inbound travel. The reactivation of China outbound, crucial to the region’s full recovery, remains uncertain.

After two summers of restricted travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a return to normality now appears to be on the horizon.

Globally, the recovery outlook for summer 2022 is more positive than in the previous months (-35% July–Sep vs – 54% Jan–June, when compared with the same periods in 2019).
Although Africa and the Middle East continue to top the recovery table (-17%), with the Americas in second place (-24%), it is Europe that can be considered the big winner for summer 2022, recording an improvement of 16 percentage points and the highest overall tourist arrival volumes.
Recovery in the Americas is led by Central America and the Caribbean, where many destinations have benefited from the early reopening of borders to tourists. The opposite can be said of South America, which is recovering at a slower rate due to the later easing of restrictions.

Travel trends: Top summer destination cities Top European destinations

At the city level, summer travel recovery is being led by Caribbean destinations – namely Montego Bay
(Jamaica; +23%), Punta Cana (Dominican Republic; +19%) and Cancun (Mexico; +14%).
The latter two destinations have remained open throughout the pandemic, encouraging tourism through consistent messaging and firmly established health protocols. This approach has helped them to maintain their popularity despite now facing more competition than during the height of the pandemic.
Most of the other high-ranking destinations for summer are European cities, with Europe capturing 46% of total worldwide international arrivals.

The top European performers for summer 2022 are mainly sun and beach destinations in Southern Europe. However, offering a promising sign for the recovery of leisure travel in Europe, several cities that do not fit the ‘sun and beach’ category also perform well, such as Reykjavik (Iceland; -5%), Paris (France; -16%) and Milan (Italy; -16%).
Top-performing cities in the Asia Pacific region – namely Delhi (India; +4%) and Manila (the Philippines; -11%) – largely owe their success this summer to VFR travel, with many travellers arriving from countries with large communities of migrant workers that stay for extended periods. The presence of two Asian cities in the global ranking of resilient destinations is a promising sign of the reactivation of travel in the continent.

Europe: Destination preferences Top European destinations

Sun and beach destinations are recovering at a far faster rate than urban destinations

The impressive rebound of summer destinations like Antalya (Turkey; +81%), Mykonos and Rhodes (both Greece;
both +29%) is partly attributable to the early reopening and proactive communication of their countries.
Greece in particular was among the first European nations to reopen to non-essential travel and has been clear and
consistent in its messaging throughout the pandemic. The consumer confidence that this approach fostered continues to reap rewards for the country, with six Greek cities among the top-performing sun and beach  destinations.
The relatively slow recovery of urban destinations is indicative of a residual hesitance among travellers to visit large,
busy cities and the resultant preference for beach destinations.
It is interesting to note that the urban destinations with the best rates of recovery – Naples (Italy; +5%), Istanbul
(Turkey; 0%), Athens (Greece; -5%) and Lisbon (Portugal; -8%) – are well connected to local sun and beach
resorts.

The Americas: Summer outlook

Central America and the Caribbean continue to dominate
In the Americas, different sub-regions are recovering at different rates. Leading the way are the countries bathed
by the Caribbean Sea: Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (+5%). The United States and Canada (-31%) are falling behind and South America (-25%) is feeling the effects of its delayed lifting of restrictions.

Central America and the Caribbean owes its leading position to the flexible approach to travel restrictions employed by many of its top destinations – as well as to its keen source markets in the US and Europe.
Top-performing destinations in the sub-region include Costa Rica (+24%), the Dominican Republic (13%) and
Jamaica (+17%), which have surpassed their performance in summer 2019 and 2021.
Quickly catching up are destinations such as Panama (-29%), Barbados (-18%) and Guatemala (-12%). Although these have not achieved their 2019 levels, they have significantly improved on their 2021 performance. Top European destinations
Meanwhile, arrivals in Turks and Caicos (+47%) , El Salvador (+24%) and Belize (+23%) have levelled out.
While they have comfortably surpassed their summer 2019 performance, these destinations have not reached
the heights of 2021.

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