A panel discussion conducted by Latin American Travel Association (LATA) revealed some interesting analysis which could help revive tourism in the Latin American region
While data procured by ForwardKeys reveals that the number of arrivals in any country has fallen by 63%, including the Americas; there could be a surge in bookings by UK travellers for future trips to Latin America. It is predicted that South America will be very popular with British travellers in 2021, Easter being the most busy month, followed by Christmas and spring half-term. The top destinations include Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Cuba.
A comparison of flight searches from the UK to Latin America in May 2019 and May 2020, revealed that there was a 10% rise in flight searches for December 2020, versus December 2019, followed by a 5% increase in flight searches for November 2020 versus November 2019, and a similar increase for October. The lockdown has led to many people spending more time searching online for holiday destinations despite being temporarily unable to travel.
Juan G?mez, insights expert at ForwardKeys, emphasised that even though travel restrictions are easing off in Europe, there are still many strict travel restrictions in place elsewhere, especially in Argentina and Brazil.
As many as 90% of people would still not want to travel, against the advice of Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), according to a survey by Wanderlust. The remaining 37% who are willing to self-quarantine after a trip abroad, make up 50% of the people who are willing to go an autumn/winter break this summer. The largest percentage (51.8%) said that they would travel domestically within the UK, and only 16.4% considered a trip to Latin America. More than half of the respondents (55%) expressed a wish to know more about the culture, history & heritage of a place, second only to selected wildlife and nature (51%), as opposed to the miscellaneous elements (32%). The survey found that safety, flexible cancellation policies and easy availability of date changes are the top three priorities for travellers.
At the end of the panel discussion, with more than 20 participants, LATA identified a number of primary focus areas to direct the Latin American recovery plan. They include understanding of consumer attitudes, how they have changed towards Latin American travel in the light of the pandemic, identifying the traveller?s profile in a post-COVID-19 world, further powering the sustainability of the region and highlighting positive news stories in relation to destinations, and how are they planning to combat and eliminate the virus.
LATA is creating a resource centre for its members, where they can access useful data and information. It is also creating safety guidelines for its destinations, to support tourism boards through their recovery.
Danny Callaghan, CEO of LATA concludes: ?Our LATA members have told us how important it is to get updated data on UK booking trends, as well as consumer sentiment towards travel. The data from ForwardKeys as well as the consumer research provided by Wanderlust Travel Media, gives us and our members some valuable direction on how to direct our tourism strategies. We will continue to work as a collective with our ongoing panel discussions and resource centre to restore Latin America tourism. Despite the challenging scenario that we are currently faced with, it is encouraging to see there is still a strong desire among people to visit Latin America.?
For more information on LATA, please visit www.lata.travel
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