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Read our updating Travel report, Travel Trends 2023. 

Travel's eagerly awaited return

 

After flights were grounded and travelers stayed home in 2020, several emerging trends are pointing to the start of a recovery in 2021. Learn what’s happening around the world now and into the future.

Global airline spending took a $352 billion hit in 2020, taking the industry back to levels not seen in over 15 years. But pent-up savings, pent-up demand to spend and venture farther from home and the green light from governments are providing momentum for recovery.

This report, developed by the Mastercard Economics Institute and the fourth in Mastercard’s Recovery Insights series, looks at the next wave of travel and its drivers, including a return to pre-pandemic levels for domestic travel in several countries, a shrinking gap between global business travel and global leisure travel, the emergence of 10 travel routes and growth in spending categories and what they mean for travel.

"One-fifth of countries have returned to at least 90% of pre-pandemic levels for domestic flight activity.”

Get access to Recovery Insights: Ready for Takeoff? to learn more about travel recovery in certain parts of the world and what to expect beyond 2021.

Download the report

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