Tag Archives: ForwardKeys

The latest air ticket data analysed by ForwardKeys reveals that comparing April-September 2021 against the same six months in 2019, a significant shift in source markets is evident. The USA, which used to account for 31% of actual air tickets into India pre-COVID has doubled. The UK, a traditional source market, has shrunk by more than half to only 6%.

Recent statistics from ForwardKeys have claimed that Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Delhi have been the top 2 most searched domestic routes in India in July 2020. However, In July 2019, Delhi-Goa and Goa-Delhi were the top 2 most searched routes.

In its report on air travel trends in South Asia and India, ForwardKeys reveals that for June 2020, Delhi-Patna was the most searched domestic India route for any future travel, replacing Delhi-Goa as the most searched in the same period last year.

In the APAC region, while Northeast Asia has taken the major brunt of the crisis with bookings being down by 83%, South Asia has been significantly less impacted and most of the countries in the region on an average 50 to 60 per cent behind 2019 levels, reveals ForwardKeys.

Latest data on future bookings to India by ForwardKeys suggests that whilst there is no upward surge in tickets for November, travellers are generally holding onto their tickets. Ticketing history also tells the same story. Olivier Ponti, VP Insights says, “Bookings are flat as we can see a ‘wait and see attitude’ taking place, however, we expect the situation will evolve when people get more clarity regarding travel restrictions.”

The average lead time, i.e. the number of days between booking date and travel date (how far in advance travellers book their trips), for long- haul travel to South Asia is 73 days, according to ForwardKeys.

South Asia remains the least affected region within APAC, reveals Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys. He says that while the North East Asia region has taken the brunt of the crisis with bookings down by 83%, the impact on South Asia has been significantly less and the specific results in South Asia reveal that bookings are down by 60.2%.

India is still top of the mind in all the top searched markets in South Asia from all the source markets, namely UK, USA, Germany, UAE and Australia, revealed Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys. “In fact, India is usually in the top two of the destinations for these markets. We can see a lot of VFR travel going on from these destinations to India,” he revealed at the PATA India Chapter’s webinar titled ‘Tourism the economic PowerHouse in an evolving landscape’.

PATA India Chapter is all set to conduct its next informative webinar ‘Tourism the economic PowerHouse in an evolving landscape’ will have international speakers –Dr. Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA and Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys. The webinar is aimed at offering a global perspective on the evolution of tourism policy being adopted by various countries, as well as, an analytical view on the reorganisation of global tourism with focus on India & South Asia, Emerging Trends, future opportunities, the new normal business practices and source markets efforts to inspire travellers’ confidence. The webinar promises to be engaging, educational and practical from the perspective of travel professionals and tourism industry stakeholders.

Up to Jan 19, 2020, outbound travel bookings from China were 7.3% ahead compared to the equivalent period of last year, but a week later, they were 6.8% behind after travel restrictions were introduced owing to Coronavirus outbreak, according to ForwardKeys data. Bookings to China have declined from 4.5% ahead to 7.2% behind the previous year over the same time period. The epidemic has caused a substantial setback in flight bookings for the Chinese New Year period, 10th January – 6th February 2020.