Travel sectors will recover at differing rates
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Air travel is expected to take three years to recover to pre-recession levels of 2007, while the hotel sector could take four years, Euromonitor International has warned.
The market analysis provider’s latest report, revealed at the WTM Vision Conference and based on statistics up to April 2009, has revised forecasts it made last summer, as a result of the contraction in the global economy.
It claims the worldwide travel and tourism industry will in fact shrink this year, rather than grow by 4%, as originally predicted, although a slight recovery could begin as early as next year.
The hotel sector was predicted to grow by 4.8% this year, but it is now expected to decline by 3.6%, while air travel will decline by 2.3% instead of increasing by 5.3%.
Euromonitor International global travel and tourism manager Caroline Bremner said: “People are shifting down from five-star hotels, for example, to four-star. The larger chains can fall back on their mid-market, budget or boutique brands, which is helping them.”
While Western Europe is likely to see the green shoots of recovery next year, the report warns that North America will not start to see an upturn until 2011.
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