World affected by COVID-19

The travel setback caused by COVID-19 outbreak has now spread beyond China, with other parts of Asia Pacific experiencing a 10.5 per cent drop in outbound travel bookings for March and April, reveals ForwardKeys.

The Chinese outbound market has been severely affected by COVID-19 and resultantly, the global tourism industry has taken a hit. According to data released by ForwardKeys, currently, bookings for March and April from China are set to be just 55.9 per cent of what they were during the corresponding period in 2019. The following diagram depicts Chinese forward-looking air departures to worldwide regions, taking into account booking made (as of February 9, 2020) for the period March 1-April 30, and depicts market share by region and year-on-year variation. The Americas, which account for only six per cent of total outbound numbers from China have suffered the maximum year-on-year drop in numbers at 63.2 per cent, followed by Asia Pacific at a 58.3 per cent variation.