Short-Term Bookings Remain the Choice for Travelers

INTERNATIONAL REPORT—Short-term bookings remain the norm across all markets, with North America seeing a 121% uptick in new bookings in the coming months, according to the latest edition of Duetto’s Pulse Report, which tracked data from Aug. 10-23, as compared to data for July 27 to Aug. 9.

Web traffic data is also showing growing consumer interest in travel for Q1 2021 for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions, and throughout 2021 for North America. However, this is still not translating into on-the-books business.

New Bookings
Net new bookings into the North American market in this Pulse Report is up considerably when compared to the prior Pulse Report (July 27 to Aug. 9), with an increase of 121%.

The largest gains for this market were mostly short term, for September, October and November. The best performing markets were Florida (beaches), Colorado, California (outside of major metro markets such as San Francisco and Los Angeles), and Tennessee (excluding Nashville).

Net new bookings into Latin America show an increase in the month of September 2020, but very little growth in the months thereafter. The short-term trend is certainly very prevalent here. Looking at Mexico specifically, this trend persists with a 118% increase in net new bookings for September 2020, which falls off to 77% in October and 41% in November.

In EMEA, uncertainty reigns. The past two weeks have seen significant changes in travel restrictions and the re-introduction of test and quarantine measures in almost all countries. In terms of new pickup, September saw a 194% increase, October was up 115% and November was up 42%.

EMEA is a very regional market. In DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), the region is showing strong increases in bookings through the end of the year with a 126% increase for September, 141% for October, 121% for November and 57% for December.

It’s a different story in the U.K. and Ireland. While the short-term three-to-four-week window shows a constant increase in net pickup volume of 54% for September, the remaining months of the year see a decrease in pace with -9% less for October, -48% for November and -46% for December.

APAC saw positive development for the upcoming two months, including Oceania, which is continuing to deal with lockdowns and restrictions on travel even domestically. September saw a 141% increase in net pickup, while October was up 504%. The October increase is interesting in that it shows an increase in confidence in travel beyond the four-week window.

Web Traffic
Web shopping for North America saw strong gains with an average increase of 377% for the next 16 months. These gains suggest an unexpected return to travelers looking to book. The best performing look-to-book markets were Florida, Colorado and Hawaii.

In Latin America, web shopping traffic is focused in the first quarter of 2021. Similar trends are being seen in Mexico by itself, with the Caribbean starting to steal a bit of the look-to-book share when it comes to resort business.

The current Pulse Report also shows positive increases in web traffic across the whole EMEA region through the end of the year. Most prominent are the DACH and Iberia regions.

In APAC, longer trends are emerging in web traffic data. The region shows consistent growth in web searches not only through the end of 2020 but beyond January 2021.