MasterCard Expects Increase in Travel to Egypt in Near Future

A report authored by experts at MasterCard  Economics Institute expected an increase in travel between countries of the Middle East, Africa, and Egypt in the near future.

The report indicated that routes of travel among these countries will be one of the best in ten major routes in the world, especially after easing restrictions of travel linked to the Coronavirus (known also as COVID-19).

The report showed an increase in travel to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2021.

But it did not reveal defined figures despite reservations to international flights are still representing a slight part of what were registered over the period precedent for the COVID-19.

Reservations of flights to Egypt in May were lesser than 50 % compared with levels registered in the fourth quarter of 2019 according to the report of Flight Booking Tracker (FBT) which monitors levels of travel compared to indicators registered over the period before the pandemic.

Reservations boomed gradually in the third quarter of 2020 after a decline neared zero in March and April 2020.

Since then, figures were different as they retreated during the second wave of the pandemic in winter last year. However, the reservations recovered again across the world.

Last May reservations to entertainment flights grew by 4.5 times compared to the previous months. May's reservations were tow folds of those registered in January according to the report of Flight Booking Tracker (FBT) which forecasts also a leap in local flights to levels of the period ahead of the pandemic.

The reservations to local flights grew in 20% of countries and reached 90% ahead of the pandemic. But some travelers are still preferring traditional overland trips to flights.

International expenditure on fuel grew by 13 % compared to its peak in 2019. Also, expenditure on fuel in Egypt and Nigeria exceeded levels in 2019.

In the United States of America (USA) about 25% of rented vehicles were used in intra-states travel.

Official statistics in the USA proved that citizens saved an additional $5 trillion during the period of restricted travel due to the pandemic.

The recovery of the travel industry is expected to be unbalanced owing to the emergence of new variants of the COVID-19 along with restrictions on supplying in the aviation industry, changes in rules of international travel, and some aspects of uncertainty that means the path of recovery is still unclear.