ForwardKeys reveals surge in bookings for Greece, Portugal and Spain

EUROPE. ForwardKeys has revealed a recent jump in international flight bookings to Greece, Portugal and Spain as the tourist destinations announce the easing of travel restrictions.

ForwardKeys VP of Insights Olivier Ponti noted that the European aviation market was “in a state of suspended animation with nearly no new bookings” for most of April and May.

Yet, as reported in our #TimeForTravel column, Greece, Portugal and Spain have recently announced an easing of restrictions. This has kickstarted the region’s booking market, according to the ForwardKeys data.

The ForwardKeys data shows that 2020 booking levels are still way behind 2019, but there were noticeable spikes at the time of announcements; Click to enlarge

On 20 May, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the country would open its doors to foreign tourists on 1 July. In the two weeks after this, flight tickets issued for Greece jumped from effectively zero to 35% of 2019 levels for the same period, ForwardKeys said.

Two days later, Portugal’s Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, announced that the country’s borders would reopen on 15 June. Similarly, according to the ForwardKeys data, flight tickets to the country increased from effectively zero to 35% of 2019 levels in the following 12 days.

Spain followed suit on 23 May, with the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declaring the country would open to foreign tourism from 1 July. This saw a jump in bookings to 30% of the level seen during the same period in 2019 for the following 11 days, ForwardKeys noted.

The uptick was particularly pronounced with expats and travellers visiting friends or relatives (VFR); Click to enlarge

Ponti commented: “When governments tell people they can travel, flight bookings immediately start. However, given that there should be strong pent-up demand for holidays in southern Europe in July and August, the relatively low booking levels, compared to 2019, suggest that people are still reluctant to fly.

“Bookings for Greece, Portugal, and Spain are respectively 49.8%, 52% and 53.5% behind where they were at the beginning of June 2019. It will still be challenging for any of those countries to rescue this Summer holiday season at this rate.”

Closer analysis of the data suggests leisure travellers account for a large chunk of the bookings, with the recovery particularly strong among ex-pats and those visiting friends and relatives. In that niche, air tickets to Greece, Portugal, and Spain, reached 89%, 87%, and 54% of 2019 levels respectively.

Food & Beverage The Magazine eZine