Football World Cup is often cited as the greatest tournament in the world, which is expected to boost the Brazilian economy, particularly for the Travel & Tourism industry. An estimated $25 billion is expected to be spent by football lovers with online travel industry growing at over 34%. Tourist influx has led to steep increase in hotel prices with over 173,000 new hotel rooms added before the event. Flight bookings from Europe to Brazil for travel during the FIFA World Cup period have surged by approximately 60% compared with bookings for the same period in 2013, demonstrating the clear impact of the event on demand for travel.
Key Facts:
- In UK, bookings for travel in June 2014 are almost triple the number for June 2013. Consequently, UK is the top European originating country for travel to Brazil during this period.
- Germany has seen an approximate 100 % increase in bookings.
- Bookings for air travel from France have increased by 70 %.
- The surge in demand is not reflected in Southern Europe, with bookings for departure from Italy, Spain and Portugal decreasing by approximately 10 % compared to the 2013 levels.
- Northern Europeans flock to Brazil – but data analysis shows many are travelling with Southern European airlines.
- Travel agency bookings for the May- August period for flights to Brazil originating in United States have increased by 68% compared to the same period in 2013.
Travel agency bookings for flights to Brazil originating in European markets outside of Spain, Portugal and Italy doubled compared to 2013, and Southern European carriers attracted a higher share of this increase than all other airlines, both in absolute and in relative terms. Bookings from these markets with Southern European carriers almost tripled (+185 percent); in contrast, those for all other airlines increased by 70 %.
The data analysis reveals higher demand from North European countries compared to Southern European markets. The lack of response to these peaks in demand calls for an advanced data analytics, which can help the travel industry identify & capitalize on such business opportunities.
Source: eRevMax, Amadeus