Todd Handcock, Global Chief Commercial Officer and Asia Pacific President, Collinson – owners and operators of Priority Pass shares travel trends for 2024. Across our network of more than 1,400 airport lounges and travel experiences, lounge visit figures so far this year continue to trend upwards; buoyed by the ongoing growth of travel.
There was a resounding 55% increase in airport lounge visits across Asia Pacific from January to October this year, and a significant 178% year-on-year increase versus the same 10-month period in 2022. Keeping in mind that Asia Pacific was ‘first in, last out’ of the pandemic, it’s perhaps most pleasing to note that lounge visit numbers have surpassed those of the same period in 2019 by 11% – with South Asia and Southeast Asia leading the way.
Looking to the future, travel is expected to complete its full recovery in 2024 and within Asia, much of the heavy lifting will continue to be done by India, Southeast Asia, and increasingly China. Air ticket bookings for travel to locations within Asia Pacific between October and December have recovered to 90% of pre-pandemic levels, and international tourism is expected to reach 80-95% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year.
With this return to the skies, consumers are now seeking more enhanced travel experiences and increasingly favouring non-financial, experiential-driven rewards; with airport lounge access the most sought-after travel benefit, on top of VIP privileges, environmental sustainability rewards (e.g. carbon offsetting), and digital rewards (e.g. NFTs). As we enter 2024, we expect this focus on seamless, enjoyable, and stress-free experiences to remain amongst travellers’ top priorities – in turn, presenting brands with a chance to drive deeper customer engagement through travel-related experiences.
To support consumers’ preferences for enhanced travel experiences, we continue to increase and enhance our network of airport lounges and broader travel experiences, while focusing on strategic technology investments in AI, Web 3.0, the metaverse and blockchain; as technology continues to be an enabler and differentiator for more personalised lounge and travel experiences today and into the future.
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