Tag Archives: Olivier Ponti

Olivier Ponti, Director of Intelligence & Marketing, Forwardkeys, shared that high airfare posed a significant obstacle recently due to strong demand and limited supply. As capacity returns, airfare is beginning to see a dip, although remaining 4% higher than 2019 levels by the end of April 2024. Despite some fluctuations, the global trend indicates a positive shift.

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.”

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.