Saniya Zanpure

India’s travel booking landscape is rapidly shifting online, driven by the younger demographic, rising smartphone penetration, and improving internet connectivity across the country. Currently diverse and fragmented, the online travel landscape, is poised for dynamic growth as local players strive to maintain their dominance and Western OTAs take steps to tap into the emerging opportunity.

2023 marked a significant milestone when global travel recovered and exceeded expectations, setting new benchmarks. As we move away from the COVID era, in 2024, the Skift Travel Health Index is shifting its focus to year-on-year (YoY) indexing instead of continuing to compare against 2019 levels.

As we enter 2024, the travel industry is poised for strong growth, building on the recovery momentum of 2023. The Skift Travel Health Index now benchmarks performance year-on-year, moving away from the 2019 benchmark. In January 2024, the index stands at 114, a 14-point increase from January 2023, signaling continued resilience and expansion in the industry.

Asia the new Europe in 2024? As the world gears up for another year of post-pandemic travel, the industry will see Asia take the center stage, driving growth in 2024 while Europe stabilizes at modest growth levels.

The Skift Travel Health Index stood at 102 in December 2023, concluding 2023 as a triumphant year for the travel industry. 2024 signals a promising comeback as the industry moves past the COVID era, navigating the “new normal,” strengthening, and settling into a stable growth trajectory.

2024 will be the year that the travel industry fully transitions from catch-up to true growth above pre-pandemic levels. Without revenge travel as a tailwind we expect a more normal growth trajectory for the travel industry this year.

The global Travel Health Index rose to 105, continuing the trend of surpassing pre-pandemic levels and setting a new benchmark. Latin America, propelled by the Taylor Swift Eras Tour led the score, soaring to an all-time high regional index of 117 in November 2023.

Global travel softened due to seasonality of demand in October 2023, the Skift Travel Health Index dipping to 103. Europe was impacted the most due to reduced pent-up demand and economic concerns. Despite China's Golden Week holiday, travel recovery in the country remained sluggish.

The Skift Travel Health Index stands at 106 this month, achieving a new record high. However, there is a disparity in the performance of several countries in the Asia Pacific, suggesting that efforts to attract Chinese travelers to nations dependent on inbound tourism may be progressing at a slower pace than anticipated.

The pandemic accelerated the shift to digital and alternative payments. To capitalize on this, hoteliers should modernize their payment tech stack to offer seamless integration and diverse payment options for increased bookings, higher-value reservations, and improved guest satisfaction.

Hong Kong is back in business. Travel performance boomed in August 2023, but talk of full recovery is still premature, as 2019 wasn't a particularly good year with widespread protests impacting travel demand in the country.

Global travel's month-on-month performance decline in July 2023 due to seasonality of demand, mirrors the downward trend from June to July last year. Hong Kong, the only country to witness an index uptick this month, has geared up for a steady rebound as travel volumes return.