Travel

WHAT'S NEXT?: How we travel, where we travel and whether we travel at all will mean tremendous change in the decades ahead.

• [New] In the next three years, the markets with the most hotel supply expected to open are New York with 123 hotels, Dallas with 107 hotels, Houston with 87 hotels, Atlanta with 72 hotels, and Nashville with 67 hotels.
• [New] EIA expects jet fuel consumption to increase the most in China and other Asian non-OECD countries, driven by greater demand for freight air transport and passenger air travel.
• [New] Driven by aging populations searching for high quality and affordable healthcare in an increasingly connected world, the medical tourism market is expected to reach $179.6 billion by 2026.
• [New] As developing nations are increasingly heading toward technological advancement and quality services in the medical and healthcare sector, the global medical tourism market is anticipated to witness robust growth over 2014-2020, predominantly in Asian countries.
• China has witnessed a significant growth in tourists' arrival over the past few years and projections are that it will overtake France as the world's number one tourist destination by 2030 as a growing middle class in Asia looks to spend more on travel.
• Travel to and within the U.S. grew 3.0 percent year-over-year in November and the growth of both international and domestic travel are projected to decelerate in the first few months of 2019.
• Global travel bookings valued at US$1.4 trillion are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of five per cent over the next two years, while travel bookings in the Asia-Pacific region, pegged at US$420 billion in 2018, is expected to continue growing at 6 per cent over the next two years.
• The International Air Transport Association predicts that air travel will grow to 7.2 billion passengers by 2035 - a near doubling of current levels.
• Real estate is expected to be Dubai's principle driver of economic growth in 2019, followed by logistics and transport, tourism, and financial services.
• London is expected to maintain growth for the rest of 2019, boosted by international tourism as a result of the weak pound.
• The hotel market in Osaka is expected to experience weaker market conditions due to a decrease in South Korean visitors against the backdrop of ongoing tension between the two countries, compounded by increase in supply of hotel rooms.
• The hotel market conditions in Sydney and Melbourne are expected to remain competitive in the near term due to increase in supply of hotel rooms.
• Warehouse Aparthotel (166 rooms), The Stock Exchange Hotel (41 rooms), and Staying Cool (41 rooms), with record levels of new rooms in London then expected to come to market during 2020 and 2021.
• A new store concept was introduced at Hong Kong International Airport, and in Europe, Bally is renovating its Swiss flagship at Zurich Airport, and will open a store in LVMH/DFS' s La Samaritaine store in Paris in Q1 2020.
• The cruise market is the fastest growing sector of tourism and in the next decade cruising in the Caribbean region is anticipated to increase by 40 percent.
• In OECD countries, improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency outpace projected increases in travel demand, and as a result, total projected transportation energy use for OECD countries declines by 1% from 2018 to 2050.
• The aviation industry's carbon offsetting scheme will work International airlines are counting on a global carbon offsetting plan to cap CO2 emissions from air travel at 2020 levels, mitigating the environmental impact of flying even as passenger traffic is forecast to grow.
• The International Civil Aviation Organization projects that emissions from air travel will grow between 300 and 700 percent by 2050 compared to 2005 levels.
• Saudi Arabia wants to increase international and domestic visits to 100 million a year by 2030: The government expects to create one million tourism jobs.
• Indonesia's construction industry's output value is expected to continue to expand at a healthy rate over the forecast period (2019-2023), with investments in housing, transport and tourism infrastructure projects continuing to drive growth.
• Saudi Arabia relaxes rules on who can rent hotel rooms: Saudi Arabia will now allow unmarried foreign couples to rent a hotel room together under a new visa regime.
• The Greek Tourism Ministry is expecting Greece to see an increase in revenue from tourism and travel this year, compared to 2018.
• Fundamentals in the hotel market remains firm with upcoming events (rugby world cup and Tokyo Olympics in 2020) expected to drive demand, with new supply expected to slow in the coming years.

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Last updated: 16 November 2019