A total of 558 deals* were revealed in the travel and tourism sector globally during the first three quarters of 2023, which was a decline of 33% compared to the announcement of 833 deals during the same period in 2022, according to GlobalData, a data and analytics company.
An analysis of GlobalData’s Financial Deals Database also revealed all the deal types under coverage, and most of the key markets recorded a considerable year-on-year decline in the announcement of deals during Q1-Q3 2023 compared to Q1-Q3 2022.
For instance, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals volume for the travel and tourism sector declined by 34.6% during Q1-Q3 2023 compared to Q1-Q3 2022, while the total number of private equity deals and venture financing deals were down by 29.2% and 28.4%, respectively.
Geo-political tensions, Russia-Ukraine war, inflation, recession fears and interest rate hikes seem to have been taking a toll on deal-making sentiments in the travel and tourism sector. As a result, GlobalData has been seeing subdued activity being experienced across several key markets across regions. Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData North America witnessed a decline in deals volume by 43.9% during Q1-Q3 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year, while Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa and South and Central America regions experienced decline of 39.7%, 12.7%, 16.7%, and 25%, respectively.
Similarly, key markets such as the U.S., the UK, South Korea, France, Australia, Japan, the Netherlands and Canada recorded year-on-year decline in deals volume by 44.4%, 40%, 12.5%, 12.5%, 25.9%, 53.5%, 23.5%, and 35.3% during Q1-Q3 2023, respectively, compared to Q1-Q3 2022.
Meanwhile, China emerged as a notable exception and experienced growth in deals volume by 21.9% during Q1-Q3 2023 compared to Q1-Q3 2022, whereas deals volume for India remained at the same level.
*Comprising mergers & acquisitions, private equity and venture financing deals.
