For the global tourism industry, 2022 was an important year regarding compensating for the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
There was an estimated 60% to 80% increase in the volume of the global tourism sector last year; however, it does not mean that 2019 levels have been reached. Therefore, the sector, which is expected to grow by 30% in 2023, may push or even exceed 2019 levels. The volume we are talking about is 1.8 billion international tourist trips. This figure, which decreased to 1.4 billion in 2021, is estimated to have approached 1.6 billion again in 2022.
For the world economy, which is struggling with two “black swans,” namely the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, the reduction of travel revenue of millions of companies operating on a global and regional scale, and millions of companies engaged in export and import business are one of the important handicaps of the industry.
Worldwide inflation and cost increases caused by the global energy and food crises also directly affect the cost management and profitability of the tourism industry all around the world. Accordingly, as observed in the sector, the increases in the prices of airline tickets, hotels and similar facilities also affect the number of customers in the tourism industry on a global scale. The most critical break in 2023 for global tourism will be the return to mass tourism or group tourism “to get back at” the COVID-19 pandemic.
As you know, the interest in boutique tourism increased during the pandemic. Those who had the purchasing power to use the privileged tourism service shifted from large hotels to boutique hotels, from cruise-type and multi-cabin cruises to sailboats and blue cruises. However, for the middle and lower-income groups, more affordable mass tourism needed to be revived.
If this expectation is met, the number of international travelers, which has grown by an average of 2.6% every year since 2000 and experienced the heaviest contraction in recent history in 2020, will catch up with its old pace and reach 1.52 billion by 2026. While the number of global touristic visits was below 2.5 billion in 2021, it is expected to reach 2.75 billion by 2026. Global tourism, meanwhile, has grown by 3.2% since 2000. At this point, Türkiye, which ranks sixth among the top five most attractive destinations in the global tourism industry, is an environmentally friendly country with dozens of Blue Flag beaches in addition to its historical, cultural and culinary richness. If it can further multiply its indisputable advantages with the success of services, Turkish destinations will rise as the most indispensable tourist spots in the world.
Considering its volume of $1.7 trillion in 2019, the loss experienced by the global tourism industry in 2020 was a historical breaking point at $600 billion, according to statistics that the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has kept regularly for the last 30 years. Therefore, the recovery, which was estimated to be 60% or more in 2022, is very important to revive the global pre-pandemic levels in 2023.
The UNWTO data shows that the countries with record jumps in 2022 were Serbia, Romania, Türkiye, Latvia, Portugal, Pakistan, Morocco and France. In 2023, it is expected that North America will experience a rise in domestic tourism, and the Asia-Pacific region and Africa in terms of regional tourism. Finally, the impact of China's decision to lift pandemic restrictions in 2023 will also be felt globally.
