Tourism: air traffic exceeded two-thirds of its pre-crisis level in 2022
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Global air traffic is recovering. For the year 2022, it reached 68.5% of its level before the Covid-19 pandemicmarked by a significant rebound in international traffic and strong regional disparities, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) announced on Monday.
Measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPK), one of the industry benchmarks, domestic traffic climbed 10.9% over the previous year. Domestic routes have returned to 79.6% of their 2019 level, the last full year before the pandemic which led to multiple travel restrictions around the world, according to statistics published by the body bringing together 300 airlines, representing 83% of the global traffic.
Domestic traffic is on the way to regaining its level pre-crisis in Latin America (-0.5% compared to 2019), Europe (-3.1%), and North America (-6.3%) but lagged behind in Asia-Pacific (-40, 3%) due to prolonged travel restrictions, particularly within the large Chinese market.
The “zero Covid” policy which continued in China until the beginning of December had led Iata that month to revise downwards the estimate of passenger traffic for the year at the global level, to 70.6 % of 2019 level, vs. 82.4% previously expected. It should return to 85.5% of the pre-crisis level in 2023, according to her.
Most restrictions lifted by governments
international traffic, which had been the most affected, was multiplied by 2.5 in 2022 and reached 62.2% of its 2019 level. Here again, if most continents have recovered three quarters of their international traffic from before -crisis, Asia-Pacific was still down 68.2% compared to 2019.
“The industry left 2022 in much better shape than it entered as most governments lifted travel restrictions Covid-19 over the year and people have benefited from the restoration of their freedom to travel,” according to Iata Director General Willie Walsh. “This momentum is likely to continue into the new year despite some governments’ overreactions to China’s reopening,” he said.
Many countries have imposed Covid tests on travelers from China, where there was a major epidemic rebound after the end of restrictions, a practice deemed “impulsive” and “ineffective” by Iata.
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