ITB Berlin 2024: Travel Market Set for Growth Again, Say Experts

In 2023, the travel market not only recovered from its slump during the crisis of the Covid pandemic, it even surpassed 2019 levels, according to experts at ITB Berlin 2024. Speaking during the opening press conference on Monday, experts appeared upbeat about the travel industry’s future According to the tourism market research company Phocuswright, at close to two trillion dollars, turnover last year had returned to pre-pandemic levels. “Now we can really say the pandemic is over,” said Phocuswright Senior Vice President Charuta Fadnis during the opening press conference. According to the company’s data, regions were recovering at different speeds. In 2019 North America, Europe/the Middle East and Asia were more or less equal, each accounting for one-third of bookings. In 2022 North America surged ahead with 40 per cent, while Asia trailed significantly, even lagging behind Europe. Fadnis highlighted that many challenges remain. Inflation was weaker, but global flashpoints bore new risks. To that could be added the biggest challenge: climate change, which, according to Fadnis, is the industry’s responsibility to take action. “Individual travellers did not see it as their task to actively participate in every sustainability initiative,” she said. On his part, German Travel Association (DRV) president Norbert Fiebig called for policymakers to financially support the industry’s eco-friendly transformation. Fiebig also described climate action and sustainability as tomorrow’s most important tasks. The biggest challenge for the tourism industry was the fact that mobility without adequate means, i.e. air travel, was “unthinkable”. He called upon the federal government to rethink its recent decision to stop funding research on sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs).