The pandemic has crippled travel and tourism but the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and its knowledge partner ForwardKeys forecast a major increase in global international flights bookings as international travel takes off.

This was revealed at WTTC’s prestigious 21st Global Summit, taking place in April in the Philippines, the fastest growing single destination in South East Asia, 29 percent up in the second quarter compared to the first quarter.

According to WTTC, sun and sea destinations, such as the Caribbean and Latin America, lead the international inbound bookings.

ForwardKeys, a leading travel and analytics company, says the top 20 best performing destinations for the summer are Costa Rica, Aruba, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, all of which rely heavily upon international travel.

These destinations lead the pack with bookings already surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

Last year, the industry’s gradual recovery was significantly slowed by the surge in Omicron cases. However, the future is looking brighter for 2022 with positive booking data worldwide.

“WTTC 2022 booking data from ForwardKeys is a firm signal of the strong recovery of the global Travel & Tourism sector,” shared Julia Simpson, WTTC president & CEO said.

“Travel to the Asia-Pacific region shows impressive signs of improvement as destinations gradually reopen their borders to visitors, in line with customer demand,” she adds.

Olivier Ponti, ForwardKeys Vice President Insights, says Asia is driving the return of both travel to Asia and within the region, which is instrumental in driving the global economic recovery.

According to the data,first and second quarter figures show triple-digit growth for inbound flight bookings around the world, compared to last year, including the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Travellers are eager to spend more on travel following the loosening of restrictions, with heightened demand for premium cabin classes in 2022. Other trends seen include stronger last-minute bookings.

Further evidence of the resurgence in travel is shown in arrivals in Europe, with a massive 350% surge in international arrivals for the first quarter in 2022 compared to last year.

Asia-Pacific countries also saw an increase in arrivals for the first quarter of this year compared to 2021, with bookings for the region up 275%.

WTTC sees further acceleration of the continuing recovery with a significant rise in international bookings in the second quarter, which have soared by 264% on the year before.

This acceleration is particularly notable in Asia where travel restrictions are being removed.

WTTC says travel to the Caribbean and Latin America surged, which includes seven out of the top 10 travel destinations.

India and Pakistan are also highly popular, thanks to travel mainly for visits to family and friends.

Meanwhile in Europe, destinations such as Iceland, Greece, Portugal, Spain and France are showing a strong resurgence with travel bookings just slightly behind pre-pandemic levels.

Africa and the Middle East also feature in the top 20 list with Tanzania, Qatar and Egypt also reaching close to pre-pandemic levels of travel.

The continued recovery of the Travel & Tourism sector in the Asia-Pacific region looks set to accelerate as destinations gradually reopen throughout 2022.

For the Philippines, WTTC’s latest Economic Impact Report revealed that Travel & Tourism contribution to the nation’s economy climbed 129.5.% reaching US$ 41 billion last year.

Following an 80% decline, this impressive rise saw it ranked as the world’s fourth fastest growing economy during 2021.

The industry supported 7.8 million jobs last year, representing a substantial 20.5% rise in 2020, compared with a global increase of 6.7%.

Before the pandemic, the Philippines Travel & Tourism sector’s contribution to GDP was 22.5% of the total economy (worth US$92.6 billion).

However, due to damaging travel restrictions it then plunged by 80.7% to a mere US$ 17.8 billion, dropping to just a 4.8% share towards the country’s GDP.

But in 2021 this rose to US$ 41 billion, representing a 10.4% share of the nation’s total economy, which signals the recovery of the sector is well underway.

The WTTC report also takes a forward look at the sector with the global tourism body forecasting that the Philippines Travel & Tourism contribution to GDP will grow by 6.7% over the next decade, exceeding the expected country’s overall economy average growth rate of just 5.6%.

“Our latest EIR for the Philippines signals the astonishing recovery of the country’s Travel & Tourism sector. Resulting in a massive employment boost for the sector, leading to the recovery of 1.3 million more jobs compared to the previous year. Our expert analysis shows that the economy has turned a corner and is firmly on the road to recovery,” Simpson said.

WTTC forecasts that the Philippines travel & tourism contribution to GDP could be worth in excess of US$ 155 billion in 2032, accounting for 21.4% of the whole economy.

Employment in the sector is forecast to grow annually by an average of 3% over the next 10 years, nearly three million new jobs could be created, accounting for 21.5% of all jobs in the Philippines.