November 13. Since the Israel-Hamas war started at the beginning of October, airlines have suspended flights not only to Israel, but also to some neighbouring countries. And while Israel’s tourism has come to a complete stop, its neighbours have tried to reassure tourists they remain “safe and welcoming”. Despite these efforts, data from travel analytics firm ForwardKeys shows the war has negatively impacted not only flights to and from the Middle East but also caused a global slowdown in the aviation industry.
The analysis compared flight booking in the three weeks before the beginning of the conflict with the three weeks after the beginning of the conflict, showing a 5 percentage points (p.p.) decrease worldwide, leading to a -20% level compared to pre-pandemic figures.
Travellers from the Americas altered their plans the most, with 10 p.p. fewer flight booking made by people from the two continents after the start of the war compared to before. The Middle East follows closely, with flight bookings from the region falling by 9 p.p. since the outbreak of the war, whilst Asia Pacific, Europe (including Israel) and Africa each slowed by 2 p.p.
From a destination perspective, the growth in bookings to all regions of the world has slowed down, apart from Africa, which has continued to recover towards 2019 levels. Flight bookings to the Middle East decreased the most, with a 26 p.p. difference before and after the conflict, while the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific only decreased by 6 p.p., 3 p.p. and 1 p.p. respectively.
Source: Travel Tomorrow
