The travel and tourism sector is upbeat over International Air Transport Association's (IATA) positive outlook after further global relaxation in Covid-19 restrictions.
IATA's predictions of overall traveller numbers of 4.0 billion in 2024, including multi-sector connecting trips as one passenger, exceeding pre-Covid-19 levels by 103 per cent of the 2019 total, has boosted Oman based travel and tourism houses.
Speaking to the Observer, Sunil D'Souza, CEO of Travel City Group, expressed happiness over the announcement.
"The IATA report says, by 2024 the number of passengers travelling would reach 4 billion, which is 3 per cent more than the peak of 2019 numbers. It is highly realistic based on current growth and future trends," D'Souza said.
"Since people were stuck for two years due to Covid related challenges, Oman too can witness a steady up-marching graph for both inbound and outbound tourism," he adds.
In addition, the Expedia Group, an American online travel shopping company for consumer and small business travel, has forecast that the 2022 summer will be the busiest ever in recent travel history.
"If the opinion of the CEO of Expedia Inc can be trusted, we, the travel houses in the Sultanate of Oman, can look forward to a busy season as summer 2022 is fast approaching and many small, as well as big players on the sector, can heave a sigh of relief," said Ijaz Kazi of Easy Travel
Since the government-imposed travel restrictions in some markets have been lifted, expectations for the near-term recovery have gone high, according to travel experts.
"The trajectory for the recovery in passenger numbers from Covid-19 was not changed by the Omicron variant. People want to travel. And when travel restrictions are lifted, they return to the skies. There is still a long way to go to reach a normal state of affairs, but the forecast for the evolution in passenger numbers gives good reason to be optimistic," said Willie Walsh, IATA's Director-General.
In 2021, overall traveller numbers were 47 per cent of 2019 levels. This is expected to improve to 83 per cent in 2022, 94 per cent in 2023, 103 per cent in 2024 and 111 per cent in 2025.
In 2021, international traveller numbers were 27 per cent of 2019 levels. This is expected to improve to 69 per cent in 2022, 82 per cent in 2023, 92 per cent in 2024 and 101 per cent in 2025.
Travel experts have further called for removing all travel barriers, including quarantine and testing for those fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine and implementing pre-departure antigen testing to enable quarantine-free travel for non-vaccinated travellers.
All travel bans should be removed, and travel restrictions be eased in recognition that travellers pose no greater risk for Covid-19 spread than already exists in the general population," Ashraf Omar, a frequent traveller and monitor of travel and tourism sector added.
@kabeeryousef
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
