Domestic tourism witnesses increase globally despite pandemic restrictions

Friday, December 24, 2021

Stringent lockdowns, closed borders and changing testing rules made the travel industry shrink by three decades in 2020, according to the UNWTO, which estimates the cost to international travel decline by more than a trillion dollars.
However, 2021 is the year of the domestic tourist.

Although no data is available on domestic tourists for 2021, an estimated 2.3 billion tourist visits were recorded in 2019, which dropped to just 610 million in 2020.

The year 2021 definitely witnessed a big uptick in domestic travel, according to travel sites and hotels. Domestic tourism all around the world witnessed flourishing. India witnessed an encouraging revival after the second Covid wave as well.

Pent-up desire motivated travelers to make the most of long weekends, festive holidays, winter breaks and every other opportunity to get away from home if it’s a short drive or flight away.

“Our customers pursued weekend retreats, extended getaways, staycations, drivecations, sea-cations and spa-cations. We also saw the emergence of new concepts like reunion travel and responsible travel. To cater to the requirements, we introduced customized concepts like private journeys for small groups and ‘create your own tour’,” said Daniel Dsouza, president and country head, SOTC Travel, a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Group.

The demand for domestic travel went up by 3 times as compared to 2020 for SOTC.

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