Americas’ summer season bookings are 26.8% behind
But all may not be lost!
However, ForwardKeys’ study also reveals that 17% of summer season bookings are typically made in the period September-January, 29% in the period February-April, which looks likely to be the peak of the COVID-19 crisis and the associated travel restrictions, and 53% between May and August. Therefore, if the world starts to recover from the worst of the outbreak around the end of April, there is still time for a rapid booking recovery to rescue the summer season.
Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys, said: “What this analysis reveals is how late people actually book. With the temporary freeze on bookings induced by the COVID-19 crisis and associated travel restrictions, it is likely that summer booking will be even more last-minute in nature, owing to pent up demand. However, when the recovery comes, it will not affect source markets and destinations equally; so to understand how strong it is, it will be crucial to keep careful tabs on what flights are and are not in service and how well bookings for each market are progressing.”
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