The global travel industry made significant progress toward regaining pre-pandemic levels of business in 2024, with the Americas leading the way.
About 790 million tourists traveled internationally during the first seven months of the year, which is about 11 percent more than one year earlier. The 2024 figure is also a mere 4 percent less than 2019, before the global pandemic emerged, according to the new Travel Insights Report 2024, produced by Amadeus in partnership with UN World Tourism.
The Americas, in particular, have significantly rebounded from the pandemic years. The region recorded 97 percent of pre-pandemic arrivals during the first seven months of 2024.
When looking at North America specifically, arrivals for 2024 were 7 percent lower than pre-pandemic figures. South America, meanwhile, recorded arrivals just 4.3 percent below 2019.
“Despite the challenges posed by inflation, the U.S. election, and other geopolitical factors, all subregions in the Americas are experiencing growth and high demand for travel during the peak season,” says the report.
In another positive sign, travelers are showing increased economic confidence by planning and booking trips earlier compared to last year. This reality is reflected in the year-over-year (YoY) increase in searches and travel agency bookings, says the report.
Additionally, for many travelers, locations throughout North America continue to be the preferred destinations. The United States, Canada, and Mexico held on to their top spots in the report’s ranking of the countries most popular among tourists.
A number of other countries in the Americas, however, are seeing notable year-over-year increases in bookings. Peru and Brazil, for instance, have experienced double-digit growth.
China and Japan are also growing to be important source markets once again, now that travel restrictions have eased for both countries. Both have seen what the report calls “remarkable” year-over-year growth in terms of being major origin markets for the North America sub-region.
Mexico has also emerged as a major contender as a source market for travel within the Americas, due to favorable economic conditions.
“The peso is at an all-time high, making travel to other destinations in the Americas more accessible for Mexican travelers,” says the report.
South American travelers are also credited with driving a surge and emerging as strong outbound players. Here too, the rising wave of travelers is linked to “favorable economic and political conditions,” per the report.
Traveler with USA flag. (Photo Credit: kegfire / Adobe Stock)
The report’s list of the 10 most searched destinations remains the same as 2023, with no changes at all in the ranking order. In other words, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico continue to top the rankings.
The full list of the top 10 searched destinations in the Americas are:
A handful of countries surged in popularity among travelers, with the highest year-over-year growth achieved by Curacao (up 30 percent), Chile (up 29 percent), Colombia (up 27 percent), El Salvador (up 25 percent) and Peru (up 24 percent.)
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